Photography

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Dave Montgomery, a Ballard Blossom employee, arranges bouquets for delivery on Valentines Day in an empty storefront on NW Market Street in Ballard Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The business, owned by the same family since the 1940s, sells between 1,100 and 1,600 bouquets around Valentines Day and needs the extra space to store the arrangements. Employees organized the flowers by their delivery location in the city. Third Avenue, Alaskan Way, Queen Anne and Magnolia are popular areas for distribution. "Red roses are the standard go-to," said Travis Treser, operations manager. However, lilies, daisies, anthurium plants and even houseplants were in the mix. "Those will last longer," Montgomery said, about the houseplants.

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Ballard Blossom sells rose bouquets expressing love on the petals in twelve languages, including Chinese.