It’s February in Ontario and Valentine’s Day is around the corner. Flowers are being shipped en masse in preparation for one of the busiest flower holidays of the year, next only to Mother’s Day. Floral wholesale warehouses with industrial sized coolers are being filled with packaged cut flowers from all over the world. Roses from Ecuador, tulips from the Netherlands, lilies from South Africa... But for florists to acquire the most desirable product at the best possible price they must attend the auction, known within the industry as “The Clock”.

At this time, “The Clock” is also gearing up for an influx of early February product that will need to be moved quickly and kept at 2C. Unlike other auctions, flower auctions are secretive places. They are not open to the public and they operate early in the morning before most are awake. They have unspoken rules, hushed bidding techniques, and lots and lots of flowers.