The world's second largest producer of flowers is producing many packages for the global market demand on Valentine's Day.

Industry representatives say Colombia is cutting and packaging nearly 500 million stems for the famous holiday of love, EFE reports according to Fox News Latino.

In 2013, Valentine's Day sales accounted for 12 percent of Colombia's flower exports as purchasers spent nearly $1.35 billion worth of the country's flowers. About 75 percent of its overseas sales go to the United States alone.

Augusto Solana, CEO of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters, said Valentine's Day makes big business for the company adding that production and shipments are tripled in a short period of time for the special day.

Colombia is the source of 80 percent of the flowers imported by the United States and 60 percent for Japan.

"We produce good quality flowers with competitive prices the whole year and we have some clients who have bought from us for many years," said Fernando Arenas, a partner to Colombia's flower company El Redil.

Valentine's Day accounts for 10 percent of El Redil's production and for 18 percent of its sales.

"If we do things right and everything goes well, we make it up for the whole year," Arenas said. "The rest of the year we do well but just enough to break even."

Little Acres Flowers founder Tobie Whitman gave tips on how to pick flowers for Valentine's Day, according to the Washingtonian.

She said it is better to get locally grown flowers instead of them being shipped from hotter climates because they will last longer after Valentine's Day.

She also emphasizes that roses are so cliché. "There's so much available for Valentine's Day, there's really no reason to have to buy imported, stale, old roses covered in pesticides from South America," she said.

Instead it would be nice to step outside the box and purchase a little cabbage, which she says is just as beautiful as any rose.

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