Occasions in Bangalore

Occasions in Bangalore: from the Lalbagh show dates to Deepavali

Two of the occasions in Bangalore are marked with a flower show: Lalbagh holds its Glass House exhibition around Republic Day on 26 January and Independence Day on 15 August. Those two displays are for looking rather than for sending; the bouquets that actually leave this section answer to a different calendar, one set by the lunar Kannada panchanga and the other set by whichever family date is coming up. This section is laid out along that line, from Ugadi and Deepavali through to a housewarming or a birthday.

Lunar and fixed dates: when to book occasion flowers

Ugadi opens the Kannada New Year in spring and is a state holiday, but its date comes from the lunar calendar rather than a fixed day of the month, so it moves from one year to the next. Dasara follows in autumn in two steps: Ayudha Puja comes first, honouring tools, instruments and vehicles, and Vijayadashami closes the festival afterwards. Karnataka Rajyotsava is the one date in this run that never shifts, since 1 November marks the day the state itself was formed. Deepavali sits in autumn too, on its own lunar date, and the public holiday Karnataka actually grants is Balipadyami, the day straight after the main night of the festival.

Three fixed dates draw their own orders alongside the lunar ones. 14 February is widely marked right across the city, Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May as a well-kept if unofficial occasion, and 8 March is observed too, though it isn't a state holiday in Karnataka. Whenever a date is set by the moon rather than the month, it is worth checking the year's exact day before booking. Flowers for any of these dates can be ordered for a chosen date and time slot in any delivery zone, and the earlier that order goes in, the wider the choice of slots still open.

Diwali flower delivery in Bangalore: a bouquet for a family visit

Diwali and Raksha Bandhan each have a section of their own here, built around a visit rather than one fixed design. Festive flowers in India run to marigold, rose and jasmine, and a bouquet made for either occasion sits better in bright, festive colour than in a single restrained shade. One colour worth leaving out of either visit is all-white, since in India white flowers are associated with funerals rather than celebration.

For a visit to someone's home, the Lily and Gerbera Bouquet keeps that festive brightness, and the "Crescent" Box offers a boxed version of the same gift. A bouquet for Diwali or Raksha Bandhan is handed over with the right hand or with both hands together, and the price tag is removed beforehand, so the gift arrives looking exactly like one.

Garlands for the puja, a bouquet for the hosts

Varamahalakshmi falls on a Friday in August, just before the full moon of Shravana, and in the hours before it KR Market fills with shoppers from well before dawn. Flower prices for the puja climb sharply through that night, because jasmine, marigold and garlands are what the ritual itself calls for. None of those three are in this catalogue: the puja flowers belong to the market stalls, and what this section can put together instead is a bouquet for the family hosting the day, not for the altar.

Ugadi and Dasara work the same way. The flowers for the ritual side of each festival are bought at the market on the day. A bouquet ordered here is the gift that goes to whoever is hosting the puja or the family gathering around it, chosen for the room rather than for the shrine.

A new home, a newborn, fifty years married: the bouquet and the envelope

Housewarming flowers, flowers for a new baby and golden wedding anniversary bouquets each have their own section, because each of these visits usually carries a gift alongside the flowers. When money travels with the bouquet at any of the three, custom in India adds one extra rupee to a round figure, since an uneven total reads as a wish for things to carry on and grow rather than stop. That extra rupee belongs to the envelope, not to the flowers, and the custom holds whether the occasion is a new address, a new arrival in the family or fifty years of marriage being marked at once.

Whatever the occasion, the florist photographs the finished bouquet before the courier sets off, and the card tucked inside can carry a name or stay anonymous. A phone number for the recipient is all the order form actually needs. Around 14 February, 8 March and Mother's Day, the delivery slots run wider than usual and nothing is promised to the minute, so ordering a few days ahead keeps the better times open. Red is the obvious choice that week, and 11 Red French Roses is built for exactly that date. Pricing and zones for getting a bouquet across the city sit on the delivery zones and terms page. What a hospital ward will take in and how Bangalore's weather treats cut flowers are both covered on the hospitals, weather and the rest of the city's flowers page.

A good place to start is whichever date is nearest: birthday flowers are one of the largest sections here, Mother's Day bouquets have their own page for the second Sunday in May, and Diwali's family-visit bouquets are already above.