By Barbara Walshe

With the success of the home-grown flower shows like Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace flower shows, people in the UK are now being encouraged to grow their own flowers. And it's hardly surprising. With the UK's current focus on green issues such as carbon emissions, it has now emerged that something as natural and beautiful as flowers could be the very things doing the worst damage.

Latest figures from the government show that the average bunch of flowers is flown 33,800 miles to reach the UK. Nearly half of these flowers come from Holland, although they frequently arrive from countries like South Africa, India, Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, and Japan. Kenya meanwhile is the second biggest exporter of flowers to the UK followed by Colombia and Spain.

Not convinced by the 'green' issue? You're not alone. First, people are inclined to believe that the planes are flying to these places anyway. However, according to the New Economics Foundation, the amount of greenhouse gases pumped out of planes depends on the weight of the cargo. And with more than £300m imported flowers flown into Britain each year, this is serious weight.

Second, not enough people are aware of the issue. George Gladwell, chairman of Columbia Road flower markets, London's most famous plant and flower market, says customers have no idea.

"People don't realise the global impact," he says. "A few of the older, long term customers might but I don't believe there are many. Most people are simply interested in cut flowers as something that looks attractive, lasts a week and cheers them up."

Whether flowers will even last a week now is debatable. There is a seven-day guarantee with cut flowers, according to Gladwell, after which they start to show stress. And with more and more flowers travelling vast lengths to get to Britain, the more distressed ones are not being sold. Yet the carbon emissions have already been released into the environment.

How to address this? Amy Steward, American author of "Flower Confidential: the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers" , writes: "I've come to believe the move toward sustainability in this industry is going to come from an army of individual florists who are committed to the environment and who have the flexibility and the entrepreneurial spirit to make a move."

"People don't realise the global impact. Most customers are simply interested in cut flowers as something that looks attractive, lasts a week and cheers them up" George Gladwell, chairman of Columbia Road flower markets

Unfortunately, such a move does not look imminent in UK flower markets. The Netherlands are a reliable and efficient partner, providing traders with next day deliveries. "They also offer credit to traders, which means not paying for flowers in advance, and often arrive with cut flowers by the lorry load which traders can go into and buy on spec," explains Gladwell.

Efficient work on the side of the Netherlands mean less fuel and admin costs for the flower traders in the UK - making the lives of traders easier and more profitable. "They do a lot of the hard work for us now so that the work we do, we do at home, loading the trolleys up for the market and then back afterwards," says Gladwell.

A return to the old days could be what's needed in the UK. During World War II, only vegetable plants could be sold in Columbia Road market while cut flowers had to be grown in gardens. Environmentalists may be calling for such action in months or years to come.

Facts about Columbia Road market

• Philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts (granddaughter of banker Thomas Coutts) helped establish Columbia Road Market in 1869 as a covered food market for 400 stalls in a tall Gothic building, with flats above,
• The market closed in 1886 after use as warehouses and small workshops dwindled. The original building was demolished in 1958.
• The market was moved to Sunday by an Act of Parliament in the 1960s in order to accommodate the needs of local Jewish traders who were not allowed to work on Saturdays, because of their religion. This also provided the opportunity for Covent Garden and Spitafields traders to sell their stock left over from Saturday markets.
• The market suffered in World War II from rules prioritising food production, and went into a long decline. A large civilian shelter, beneath the market, suffered a direct hit by a 50kg bomb on the night of Saturday September 7, 1940, at the height of the Blitz. From the 1960s, new rules forced traders to attend regularly and the market enjoyed a new resurgence with the increasing popularity of gardening programmes.