A dozen red roses
and free chocolates
£29.99
including delivery
from Bunches

This page is mainly about flowers and floral gifts for all occasions. Some of the companies also sell other small gifts and things related to plants, such as tools, seeds and even therapeutic products to soothe you after a day in the garden.

When you order flowers for delivery to someone who lives in a different town, there are two main ways the order can be handled. One way is known in the trade as 'relay'. Florists that use this system include Interflora and Teleflorist. What happens is that you place your order with one florist and they send your request to another florist, in area closer to the delivery address. The second florist makes up the bouquet and delivers it.

An advantage with this system is that the flowers are delivered by a local florist who be may be known to the person receiving the bouquet. You can also specify the delivery day. People who do not favour this system might say that there are also disadvantages. They might say that as two florists are involved, there are two lots of costs and two lots of profits, so you might not get such a good arrangement for the amount you pay. They might also argue that it is a disadvantage for you not to have any say in choosing the florist who is preparing and delivering the flowers. The florists involved in this way of working are usually local shops, who probably buy their flowers from wholesalers, who in turn get them from the growers or from auction, so they may have been handled a few times and may be a bit less fresh than the ones that come direct from the grower.

The alternative system involves one company either growing the flowers, or buying them from a grower (direct or through an auction) and sending them out. Examples of companies who do it this way are Blooming Direct, who grow a lot of their own flowers themselves, and Arena flowers who buy flowers at an auction in Holland.

The main advantage with this arrangement is that the company you deal with themselves grow or buy the flowers, prepare them and send them to the person you want to receive them. So there are fewer 'middle men' involved. This should mean that the flowers are fresher. It should also make them better value, because fewer people have to be paid along the way. On the other hand, unless the person receiving the flowers lives close to one of these sorts of florists, they will probably be delivered in a box, possibly by the postman, which isn't quite the same as being handed a bouquet by a specialist, and if they are coming by post you can't be certain they will arrive on the right day.

If you can't decide on the system you prefer, you could visit the Valueflora web site. They offer both systems. They send flowers from their own farms in England, the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands and they will also make relay arrangements with local florists not only in the UK but in 120 other countries.

At the end of the day, what matters most is that the flowers give great pleasure, that they are received in good condition and that they last well. Click on a few of the links in the boxes on the right and choose yours!