MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia and Ecuador are Cupid's best allies.

Four months of hard work in the Colombian and Ecuadorian highlands, climates well suited to the cultivation of lush roses, went into the sentiment embodied by a quarter of a billion flowers given to the object of someone's affection in the United States on Monday.

Flower growers and exporters in those two Andean nations are Cupid's best allies on Valentine's Day, representing more than 80 percent of the blossoms exchanged as tokens of love on the holiday. Some 288 million flowers, with Andean roses making up the lion's share, have arrived in the United States from abroad in the past couple weeks, according to Department of Agriculture figures.

"A big part of the flowers imported all year long come from Bogota, Medellin and Quito, but the pace quickens before Valentine's Day," Gabriel Becerra, vice president of the Association of Flower Importers of Florida, told EFE.

Colombia and Ecuador head the list of the five main providers of flowers to the United States, with 59 and 23 percent of the market, respectively.

Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Mexico round out that group, but each of those countries represents only about 4 percent of the supply.

The blooms from Colombia and Ecuador are for the most part cultivated at altitudes above 2,000 meters (6,560 ft) above sea level.

"Those in love are unaware of the great deal of work and care that goes into each flower they give or receive on Valentine's Day," said Becerra. He said the run-up to Feb. 14, the biggest day of the year for flower growers, begins in mid-October.

Some 300,000 boxes of flowers have been arriving every day at Miami International Airport over the past couple weeks.

Becerra, who is the president of Golden Flowers, said the cultivation is "labor intensive," and that hundreds of people take part in the growing, cutting, classification and packaging of the delicate product. From snipping to shipping takes less than 24 hours.

Miami is the main point of entry for flowers into the U.S. market, receiving nearly 90 percent of the arrivals.

Volume passing through the South Florida city has steadily increased over the past two decades, representing business of more than $300 million a year over the past few years, according to industry figures.

United Parcel Service ran more than a dozen additional flights to Colombia and Ecuador just prior to Valentine's Day."Transport of the flowers is one of the most delicate stages," said Delgado, whose company in February ships about 4.4 million flowers to Atlanta, Chicago and several Midwestern states.

And what's the biggest seller for this day of romance? Red roses of course, followed by carnations, irises and tulips. (EFE)