The website is clean-looking and easy to use, with such sorting options as price, occasion, or style of bouquet. If you place an order before 2 p. Two of our testers had varying experiences when UrbanStems bouquets were shipped to them, in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. The bouquet sent to Los Angeles was in decent condition when it arrived, and the flowers opened up nicely after a few days.
The flowers also appeared lackluster, but they opened up after a few days, looking full and lasting more than a week. Those are complaints that every flower delivery service receives, and they are ultimately unavoidable, considering that the product is a living thing that will endure different hardships during transport, depending on where it comes from and where it goes.
What makes UrbanStems stand apart from other companies with regard to this challenge, though, is its customer support: The company responds quickly to emails and calls with a human on the other line, not a bot , and most complaints on Twitter are answered promptly with the promise of remedying the issue. And from there you can filter for price, color, flower type, and delivery preference.
Costco ships its flowers via different carriers, depending on location, and it does not offer weekend delivery Friday through Monday. Regarding the delivery, associate staff writer Dorie Chevlen was out of her apartment when the flowers were delivered, so they got sent to a UPS holding site nearby.
The bouquet itself was beautiful but looked nearly nothing like its photo on the site. Where that photo has orange roses, yellow lilies, and purple daisies, the bouquet we received had light pink roses, yellow daisies, small purple flowers, orange lilies, tiny yellow sprigs, and green leafy filler.
The bouquet lasted about five days before wilting. You can also add a message at checkout of up to characters. Teleflora uses local florists to fulfill flower orders, but unlike BloomNation one of the other services we tested that works with local shops , it does not allow you to select the supplying florist when ordering, and the photos of the arrangements are supplied by Teleflora, not the individual florist.
Still, thanks to that model, Teleflora is able to deliver arrangements the same day you order them, by hand—something not many companies can boast about. It is also the only one of our picks that delivers in Hawaii and Alaska granted, this could change since that depends on the local florist Telaflora is working with. Many of the arrangements are very pretty, though their names may make you laugh while ordering some favorites of ours include: the Hey Gorgeous bouquet of 24 lavender roses and the My Little Chickadee arrangement, which comes in a yellow, chick-themed vase.
Every rose, lily, and carnation was blemish-free and fully blooming, and the eucalyptus and lemon leaf fillers offered beautiful contrast and additional scent. They came hand-delivered from a representative of the local florist that had fulfilled the order, and the delivery person made us sign a receipt. Since the Brooklyn apartment we sent the bouquet to has been subject to a fair amount of package theft recently, we were appreciative of the face-to-face hand-off.
The glass vase the bouquet came in was pretty enough that we kept it for future flowers. Teleflora offers the option of including a character message, and it came typed on a small, cute card inserted on a plastic, fork-like spoke.
The flowers kept their amazing smell, too. Since Teleflora uses local florists, your experience may vary, depending on the shop that puts your bouquet together, but our experiences were both positive. Benchmark Bouquets was our previous budget pick. The Flowering Fields arrangement we ordered looked beautiful, and the blooms were fresher than those in many others we tested. The reason we no longer feature Benchmark as a pick is because you simply cannot buy from it reliably right now.
At the time we first published this piece, Benchmark offered two-day delivery with Amazon Prime and shipped across the country. In we discovered that most arrangements were no longer available through Prime, and even when they were, the listed shipping time was several days. Many arrangements also became unavailable to send to any address across the country that we input. The arrangement was basic but very beautiful, featuring fully open blooms that were not crushed or torn.
Still, if you need a floral arrangement sent quickly, this is one of the few that offer same-day hand delivery, plus a complimentary note of up to characters and a teddy bear or box of Godiva chocolates for an additional fee.
The Light of My Life bouquet we received from FTD which partners with local florists to source flowers was beautiful, but some of the lilies in our arrangement were slightly damaged. The website was a turnoff. Also, it barely resembled the listing online. This particular arrangement no longer appears on The Bouqs Co. If you grow your own, you can have cut flowers well into fall. Carnations will last in a vase for 7 to 21 days. This relative of tomatillos and ground cherries is grown for the papery, bright orange husk that develops around its berries which are toxic.
The bright orange seed pods can be used fresh in arrangements. If allowed to dry, they'll keep for months, and maybe years. However, be aware that Chinese lantern can become very invasive. It spreads aggressively through underground rhizomes and It will self-seed prolifically if not deadheaded. It might be wise to grow this plant in a container where you can control its spread. You can't beat delphiniums for shades of blue and purple, although they also come in white and pink.
They can be difficult to grow because they like cool, moist summers. Delphiniums don't grow well in hot and humid climates.
If you can grow your own, cutting the flower stalks as soon as they bloom will encourage the plant to repeat-flower. Like Peruvian lily, delphiniums are sensitive to ethylene gas so don't store in the refrigerator with fruits and vegetables. Delphiniums will last in a vase for 7 to 14 days when cut fresh.
Gladiolus are among the most popular summer bulbs to grow. They can reach heights of four to six feet with their tall, spiky flower stalks. Gladiojus are thirsty cut flowers, so keep an eye on the water level and refill when necessary. You can force unopened buds to open by using warm water in the vase and covering the flowers with a clear plastic bag.
Gladiola flowers last seven to ten days when cut fresh and placed in a vase. Sprays of heather are often used as airy filler in floral arrangements. They have long stems of small pink, purple, or white flowers. Another option for the vase is the very similar-looking heath plant Erica spp. These evergreens are very long-lasting when cut. Be ware that mold can occur if the stems are packed too tightly in the vase. Cut heather will keep in a vase for one to two weeks. It is common to dry lavender, but it also makes a wonderful fresh cut flower.
If you arrange fresh lavender stems without adding water to the vase, it will dry on its own and extend its vase life indefinitely. Lavender's strong fragrance intensifies as it dries. When arranging it in a water-filled vase, remove all leaves below the water level or they will rot.
Cut fresh and placed in water, English lavender will last for up to ten days. You can display any lily, but oriental lilies have the best fragrance. A bouquet of fresh oriental lilies can perfume an entire room. Choose sprays with a few slightly opened lower buds to prolong the bloom time in the vase.
The stamens can drop pollen on anything that comes near them, causing an orange-yellow stain that is very difficult to clean from clothing. Use garden snips to remove the stamens by hand before cutting and arranging lilies in a vase. Cut lilies will keep in a vase for 7 to 14 days. Love-in-a mist-is a cool-season annual flower that blooms in shades of blue, pink, and white.
You can pay month-to-month or save a few dollars by prepaying for 3-, 6-, or month subscriptions. While the retailer also sells a la carte bouquets and plants, we think it's subscriptions offer the best value. Each bouquet in the subscription curated by the New York Botanical Garden's floral experts and features blooms that are in season.
A portion of the subscription goes to supporting the NYBG's plant science and conservation efforts. I'm two bouquets into my 3-month subscription and so far, everything has been stunning. It's a nice treat each month when I get an e-mail in my inbox saying my bouquet is on the way. April's bouquet featured white and purple lilies with a bunch of lush greenery, while March's selection was a springy mix of pink roses and purple veronica.
I highly recommend BloomsyBox's subscriptions to anyone looking for a bit of floral cheer on a regular basis. Pros: More than 20 rose color options, many container types, smell and look like fresh roses, can last a year or longer with proper care. If you've been on Instagram lately, chances are you've seen these trendy preserved roses somewhere on your feed. Usually packed into boxes or displayed in a classic ball arrangement, these flowers are incredibly popular with influencers and celebrities.
We tested three preserved rose brands and found the quality very similar. Ultimately, we chose RoseBox as the best preserved roses for its diverse range of color and display options. We particularly liked that its plentiful display containers had discreet branding or none at all, unlike other preserved rose brands that their cover containers which can't be separated from the flowers with logos.
One of our testers opted for turquoise, while others opted from more classic red and pink varieties. Preserved roses are expensive, no matter what brand you choose.
That said, they can end up being an economical alternative to buying flowers every week. We're eager to see if our arrangements live up to their purported longevity. Pros: Stunning roses; beautiful presentation; long-lasting flowers; available in quantities from six to Roses are such a big seller that I made sure every arrangement I received as part of this guide included at least some of them.
Having seen the spectrum of what's out there, I can confidently say that Roses Only delivers the most pristine, long-lasting roses I've found. So much care is put into the delivery: the cartoonishly perfect long-stemmed roses which you can order in quantities of six to come packaged in a long, elegant box with a linen ribbon, and every rose has its own water reservoir to ensure it arrives pristine. The roses themselves are flawless, with big velvety petals. They lasted about two weeks and gradually opened up until each bud was about the size of my palm.
Pros: Unique and inventive designs, each arrangement comes with a coordinating vase, options change seasonally, arrangements can last a year or longer with proper care. Cons: Order processing can take up to five business days, limited edition collections can sell out quickly. No matter how pretty the bouquet, fresh flowers will all eventually wilt.
Dried bouquets are a good solution for those who love the look of florals but hate the upkeep. Some of the most creative and beautiful preserved arrangements we've seen come from East Olivia. The offerings change seasonally, but at the time of our testing the brand featured a winter collection and Valentine's Day collection, both featuring ornamental grasses and filler flowers dyed dreamy pastel colors.
We tried The Rose from the winter collection and The Harper currently out of stock from the Valentine's Day collection. Each bouquet comes fully arranged and delicately packaged with its own matching ceramic vase.
The Rose features miscanthus, pampas grass, ruscus, helecho fern, and bunny tails in varying shades of pink, set in an ivory porcelain vase. It currently lives in my office, where it makes me smile every time I walk past it. I love knowing that I'll get many, many months of enjoyment out of it.
The fact that East Olivia 's collections change with the season makes each arrangement feel special and limited edition. Order processing can take up to five business days, so you'll want to plan ahead if you plan on gifting one of these dried arrangements, especially considering the limited edition collections can sell out quickly. We tested 12 brands for our guide to the best flower delivery services.
Here are the ones that didn't quite make the cut. To find the best flower delivery service, we conducted hands-on testing of every brand in this guide. We ordered two to three arrangements from each brand, evaluating the selection, ordering, and delivery process. We sent bouquets to testers in different parts of the country — including New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, rural Colorado, and suburban Connecticut — to see if quality and delivery time varied based on location.
In all, we tested 32 bouquets from 15 brands. Here's what we looked for in the best flower delivery service:. Ordering: We scrutinized the ordering process of each service, noting whether the website was simple to navigate, what the product selection was like, and how easy it was to place an order. We also looked at shipping options and estimated delivery times. Delivery: We noted whether the arrangements arrived when they said they would all did , evaluated packaging, and looked at the condition of the flowers when they first arrived.
Testers across the country compared notes; we found delivery times and quality consistent across the country. Quality of flowers: We looked for full bouquets of lively-looking flowers that matched the description and photo of the arrangement we ordered online.
We read all care instructions and followed them meticulously, noting how long the flowers remained fresh enough to display. Consistency: A good flower service should deliver quality blooms no matter the location of your recipient. Our testers across the country took photos and detailed notes about delivery and bouquet quality to compare experiences. Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals.
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