quote:

The flowers didn't have a hechsher and these hosts were very machmir Hareidi. I put them on the spot unwittingly. Whew!

What did they do in that situation?

Had you previously been to their house, or knew them well already?

I knew them pretty well but I didn't know much about shmitta at that time. I don't know what they did with the flowers. but I know they were a bit uncomfortable.
Avi

Regarding flowers

Most flowers don't have kdushat shviit. Only those that are grown for their good smell have kdushat shviit. Hoever flowers should not be planted or have forbidden work done on them during shmita. Thus it is a problem to buy flowers that were planted during shmita. If it was not planted during shmita and no work has been done on them they can be sold in a regular way.

Since flowers are not really so necessary I avoided them during shmita. But you can buy flowers if you get them from the right place.


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Here is a summary of halachot regarding flowers that I found on Yeshiva Ohr's website.


Flowers during the Shmita year.
Flowers that have no smell have no Kedushas Shevi’is. Flowers that are grown because of their pleasant smell have Kedushas Shevi’is. Flowers that have a pleasant smell, but are not grown for this reason, have a questionable status as far as Kedushas Shevi’is goes.
Flowers that grew in places that were not worked or planted during Shmita may be bought without a special hechsher as long as they have no nice smell.
Flowers that grew in places that were worked or planted during Shmita should not be bought, even if they have no pleasant odor. Some Poskim say that they have the status of sefichin, others are mekil. They may have the problem of shamur veneevad, and, even though there are many Poskim who are mekil in regard to shamur veneevad, this is only in the case of food, not in the case of flowers that you can manage without.
Flowers that have Kedushas Shevi’is and that began to grow before the 7th year don't have the status of sefichin, but do have Kedushas Shevi’is.

quote:

How would one know that the fruit one is purchasing is kosher? Every fruit has a sticker on it?

The stores have a Kosher certificate.
Some say kosher al pi Heter Mechira.
Others say Lemahadrin which means it does not rely on Heter Mechira. In most cases Lemhadrin is produce that comes from the Arabs in Gaza. However some Lemahardin stores include Otzar Beit Din, as well as prdoduce from the sixth year and imprted produce from Eurupean countries.