U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspects flowers for Valentine's Day

ATLANTA - It is a busy week at French Market Flowers in Atlanta’s Glenwood Park neighborhood with a few hundred orders to process for Valentine's Day.

"Every single thing is made with love, it's all handmade," said French Market Flowers General Manager Matt Riley. "There's no machine that does it."

Florists are feeling the love this week. Valentine's Day is one of two big holidays for them.

A Glenwood Park florist said the shop he manages typically processes 30% of the entire year's sales on Valentine's Day. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

"…like 30% of our entire sales for the year could happen in this one small period," Riley said.

Before the roses and other flowers end up in vases, the ones that come from overseas get checked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agriculture Specialists. Their goal is to prevent pests and diseases from entering the country. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Valentine's Day is a busy time for them.

"Everyone's in love, everyone wants to get those Valentine's roses," said Gloria Walker. "So, we have definitely seen a true increase in roses within the last couple of weeks."

Walker has inspected flowers and other goods for 18 years and leads a team of more than a dozen people in the CBP cargo division at Atlanta's airport.

Across the country, CBP says specialists have inspected at least one billion cut flowers for Valentine's Day.

"Once it comes through one of our ports of entry, we're definitely doing all that we can to ensure the safety--not just of the individuals, but also the commodities that are being shipped," Walker said.

While French Market Flowers grows some of what they need on their own, they also import roses for Valentine's Day and say the cost has soared.

"Every single thing is made with love, it's all handmade," said French Market Flowers General Manager Matt Riley. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

"Even though a lot these flowers are still coming in, they're being imported. Even for us, the costs have gone up across the board, like 30% in the last year," Riley said.

Most flower shipments that arrive in the U.S. go through Miami and New York, but Atlanta sees its fair share as well.

It is a year-round operation, but CBP expects the flower shipments to pick back up for Mother's Day.