In the days before Valentine's Day, Wayne Dunman is a very nervous man.

Bad weather in Ecuador, overzealous government agents in Miami or a truck breaking down on Interstate 95 can all hold up his shipments. And it isn't as if people can say, "Let's make Feb. 15 our Valentine's Day."

Dunman owns Dunman Floral Supply in Vinton, one of the state's largest flower wholesalers.

Assuming his luck holds, thousands of roses go from his distribution centers in Lynchburg, Richmond, Vinton and Oak Hill, W.Va., to 1,100 florists in Virginia and the neighboring states. And then to thousands of honeys, sweeties and pookies.

As wives and girlfriends across the area enjoy the long-stemmed red roses that say "I love you" at least one day of the year, take a moment to appreciate how far they've traveled.

They've come a long way, baby.

Some 90 percent of the roses sold for Valentine's Day are imported, most of them from South America, according to the Society of American Florists.

Dunman said the cool mountain air and near-eternal equatorial sunshine there are the perfect combination for flowering goodness.

For the rose-giver, it's simple: Go to a florist and pick up a dozen long-stemmed red roses. (Or call and have them delivered.) That's because Dunman and crew have done most of the hard work and worrying for you.

For Dunman, the Valentine's Day season doesn't begin in February. It starts in December, right after Christmas, when his sales force arranges for florists to get vases, cards, balloons and preservatives. A little later, other flowers start coming in, then going out.

"It's a lot more than just roses," Dunman explains.

A quick look at an FTD catalog shows the dozens of varieties. Often they come decorated with other flora - carnations, baby's breath, lilies and the like - many of which come from California and ship out before the roses.

But roses, of course, are the main event.

The roses adorning your or your sweetie's desk today ended their life and began their trip Wednesday, in either Colombia or, preferably, Ecuador - "You get a little nicer rose out of Ecuador than Colombia," says Dunman. Each rose was picked on those aforementioned South American mountains, given a quick prep and separated into groups of about 150 stems (six packs of 25). Those were "dry packed" into climate-controlled trucks and taken to the local airport, probably Wednesday evening. On Thursday they were loaded onto a cargo plane for the trip north.

At this point, Dunman begins to worry. Those roses have to be in one of his distribution centers in a few days if they're to make it to the florists by today. "You're on pins and needles," he said.

The plane comes to Miami where its cargo is unloaded, hopefully on Friday. And, hopefully, there isn't a problem with U.S. Customs, which is notoriously concerned about Colombian cargo. More worries for Dunman.

He can relax a little when the roses are loaded onto the four refrigerated tractor-trailers that will make their way from Florida to Virginia and West Virginia. That's because the trucks are equipped with Global Positioning System-based tracking devices that constantly relay their location to the trucking company.

It's the Internet age, so that trucking company has set up a special Web page where Dunman and his staff can see the vehicle's manifest, location and ETA, which, he says, "is usually accurate within about 30 minutes."

And once the truck leaves Miami, you can bet they keep a close eye on it. That isn't out of curiosity, although Dunman admits, "If your stuff gets hung up in Memphis, you're in trouble."

They watch the trucks so carefully in order to schedule the local drivers. When the roses arrive, they have to be sent out within 48 hours. Having drivers there too early means paying them to sit around; having them arrive too late means florists don't get their shipments.

Local florists such as Floral Renditions on Brandon Avenue also sometimes have to sweat out the shipments.

"As almost the last one on the totem pole, it really is out of our control," said co-owner Sam Ramsey.

Valentine's Day generates about 20 percent of annual sales at Floral Renditions. Having a mistake-free holiday is important for that reason and because the retail side of the business is growing ever more competitive.

"You've got everyone selling roses," Dunman said. And he means everyone.

Huge retailers such as Kroger and Wal-Mart have negotiating power to set lower buying prices from the growers. Ramsey and other florists rely on wholesalers to get good roses at decent prices. Then they stress their location in customer neighborhoods and what Ramsey calls "absolute service."

Prices do go up, though, because of inflation and increasing gasoline prices and transportation costs. Ramsey paid about 20 percent more for flowers this year than last.

"It does put a squeeze on our profit margin," he said. "We have to learn to become leaner and more efficient."

Ramsey's shop held the line on rose prices for customers, but more expensive flowers generally are more expensive again this year.

To say that Valentine's Day is a busy time of year for Dunman is an understatement. With the exception of Mother's Day, his other busy seasons are spread out - proms, weddings and graduations don't fall on a single day.

But in February, he said, "We'll do a month's worth of volume in seven days." To handle the load, he brings in extra help for the week before V-Day, many in the form of retirees. For those seven days, he says, his payroll jumps 25 percent.

All that to help thousands of husbands and boyfriends and significant others score a few points every Feb. 14.