How about gifting your loved one a talking rose this Valentine’s Day? You can get your partner’s name, picture, your signature and a message printed on the rose. The message is printed on the petals of fresh roses as soon as the order is placed and delivered to the person concerned.

And this special rose is available at the Rose Station at Select Citywalk Mall in Saket, South Delhi. The text or sketch is imprinted on the petals of fresh roses on order before it is delivered. You could also allow them to preserve it for you for a week or even for 25 years. Sunita Peters, the owner of ‘Flower Forest’ at Rose Station, says the idea was to make the beautiful roses even more special. She says, “Every time, we see people buy cards along with roses, we wonder why not have a rose that does all the talking. This way the need for cards could be reduced and the roses could do all the talking. Also, we feel through this innovation, we could make the act of giving roses more emotional.”

When asked how roses can stay fresh for as long as 25 years, she says that a special ink is used to write on the roses following which special techniques are used to preserve them. She informs, “First we do something called ‘freezing’ and ‘air brushing’. We extract the moisture from the rose and then rehydrate it. This helps in preserving its fresh look, the colour and the message on it. Then we trim it, take care of the damaged petals, bleach it if it’s a white rose and put it in drying rooms. Finally, it’s put in no-crush boxes and delivered to you.”

She adds that the response has been overwhelming. Roses of all colours — lush reds, attractive pinks, radiant yellows and pure whites sit pretty at the ‘Rose Station’, waiting to be taken away to those who ordered them. All of them bear beautifully written messages. But the best one till now, Sunita says, has been: ‘Grow old with me, the best is yet to be’. A guy apparently got it made for his girlfriend.

Jatin Chopra, a serviceman, who brought his wife along to buy the roses says, “It’s my wife’s birthday today. I wanted to do something different for her, so I got two roses saying ‘Happy Birthday Neha’ and ‘I love you’ made for her here. I made her wear yellow today to match the colour of the roses.” His wife Neha Chopra, visibly overwhelmed, says, “This is so special. I am glad these roses are going to be preserved for us. So I can remember his surprise for a long time to come.”