Mixed bouquets in Barcelona: lilies, roses and a rule about chrysanthemums
Catalonia's own flower gift, the Sant Jordi rose on 23 April, is traditionally one red stem with an ear of wheat and a ribbon in the colours of the Catalan flag. Mixed bouquets in Barcelona work the other way round: several flowers share one wrap, and the choice starts with which one leads. That first choice, lily, rose or something softer, decides which bouquet on the page suits whoever is getting it.
Big heads side by side: lilies, gerberas and hydrangea in a Barcelona mix
Lilies, gerberas and lisianthus are greenhouse flowers, cut all year round, so a mix built on them doesn't wait for a season. Hydrangea is different: it's a summer flower, in season through the warmer months, and the main flowers page covers the rest of the calendar.
Large heads do most of the work in a mixed bouquet. A handful of stems of lily, gerbera or hydrangea already makes a bouquet on its own, so a mix is usually built around several such heads, with smaller flowers filling the gaps between them.
Lily pollen is removed once a flower has opened, because it stains fabric and skin. The same lily is one flower to leave out of a bouquet going to a home with a cat: every part of it, pollen and vase water included, is toxic to cats.
Hydrangea drinks more water than the other flowers in the wrap. If its head droops, the whole flower, not just the stem, goes into cool water for an hour or two, and it comes back up on its own.
The rose outside April: roses with lisianthus in one wrap
Outside the Sant Jordi week, roses in a Catalan bouquet travel the route they take most of the year: Mercabarna-flor's own forecast for the holiday put eight in ten Catalan roses from Colombia, with Ecuador supplying most of the rest. This is the long-stemmed Andean rose, grown at altitude, not the single stem carried on 23 April.
In a mixed bouquet the rose shares the wrap rather than carrying it alone. Roses with Lisianthus sets a rose stem next to lisianthus, the two sharing the bunch rather than one flower standing for the whole gift.
For a softer, paler mix, Bouquet with Misty Bubbles and Chamomile is the one to look for by name.
Anyone set on roses alone, with nothing else in the wrap, is better served by roses or by a single-variety mono bouquet.
No chrysanthemum for the living: the Spanish rule for a mix
In Spain the chrysanthemum belongs to the dead, not the living. Families carry it to the cemetery on Tots Sants, 1 November, and it keeps that meaning the rest of the year, which is why it has no place in a bouquet meant as a gift.
The trade-off isn't really about how long it lasts. A chrysanthemum holds in the vase for two or three weeks, against about a week for a rose, but a flower that long-lived still carries the wrong message, so a mixed bouquet leaves it out rather than trade on its stamina.
A bunch's life in the vase is set by whichever flower in it fades first, not by the sturdiest one, so leaving out one short-lived stem rarely shortens how long the rest of the arrangement lasts. Anyone unsure what has gone into their bouquet can simply ask the florist, in the order chat, to leave the chrysanthemum out; the finished bunch is photographed before the courier sets off.
Mixed bouquet delivery in Barcelona: the whole bunch in a photo first
Flowers for a mixed bouquet are bought after the order is paid, not kept on a shelf in advance. If one stem on the list isn't in that day, the florist swaps it for something close in colour and price, and the swap shows up on the photo sent before the courier leaves.
A budget and an occasion typed into the order chat bring back a few ready options with photos and prices, before any payment is taken.
Most orders go out on the day they're placed, and the timing for any one bouquet is shown on its own card. Delivery in the city centre is free; the delivery terms cover the other zones. The card that goes with the bouquet costs nothing extra.
A single-piece, handmade arrangement rather than a classic hand-tied mix points to designer bouquets, and a home or office without a vase to hand is better served by flowers in boxes, with the stems already standing in soaked foam.