November 1st is the feast of All Saints and here in Spain it is the day when you visit the cemetery to pay respect to dead relatives and friends. Of course, you are not expected to go empty handed, most take a bunch of flowers and a candle or two to decorate the niches.
But where do all those flowers come from?
One major source is the Flomar cooperative in Pilar de la Horadada. It is one of the largest producers of cut flowers in Spain. Two million flowers are cut in preparation for All Saints Day representing 15% of the total production. Those huge polythene greenhouses that you see on the roadside are where all these flowers are grown.
In preparation for November 1st, the delicate stems are cut over night, packed and dispatched within 24 hours to all parts of Spain. In case you were wondering, the biggest sellers are chrysanthemums, daisies, gladioli, roses and gerberas.
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