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Mother's Day in Barcelona: Andean roses and lilies for her May Sunday
A rose for Mother's Day in Barcelona has usually flown in from the Andes. In its spring forecast around Sant Jordi, Mercabarna-flor, the city's wholesale flower market, put Colombia at 80% of roses and Ecuador at 15%. Día de la Madre falls on the first Sunday of May, only a couple of weeks after that April rose. So the choice this time is whether mum gets a rose again or something else, and whether it arrives as a bouquet or a box.
Roses from Colombia and Ecuador: choosing her colour after Sant Jordi
On 23 April, the custom asked men to give a red rose with an ear of wheat and ribbons in the colours of the Catalan flag; today everyone exchanges roses with everyone, regardless of gender. If mum already had her red rose on Sant Jordi, May can bring a change of colour: white, pink, or a bouquet of roses with lisianthus, such as Roses with Lisianthus. Red still works for a second rose in a fortnight, and 11 Red French Roses is one way to repeat it. The word French on a rose names no variety; it describes a florist's trick of turning the outer petals back by hand. At JFLOO the flowers for an order are bought only once it has been paid.
Lilies or hydrangea when her rose already came in April
A rose is not the only way to mark the day. Pink and white lilies, lilies paired with gerbera, and hydrangea gathered with misty gypsophila read as a complete change from April's rose, with no red anywhere in the vase. A florist can already bring several of these together in one arrangement, and the mixed bouquets section is where that combination is made up for you. One flower to leave out is the chrysanthemum: in Spain it is carried to the cemetery on 1 November, for Tots Sants, and is not given to someone living, mum included.
A hat box for her table, a basket or a plant in a pot
A hat box of flowers, the flowers in boxes format, needs no vase at all: the stems sit in foam. Watered daily across the whole surface, the foam holds them about as long as a vase would, which leaves more room on a table already crowded with cards and other gifts. A flower basket reads as its own centrepiece, and a potted plant is the gift that keeps growing once the day is over. Spring here can turn warm fast, and the flowers in Barcelona page has notes on keeping any of these fresh indoors. A card with your own words comes free with every order, and a balloon or a box of sweets can go in alongside a basket. A foil balloon lasts several days, a latex one about half a day.
Día de la Madre in Barcelona: booking before the first Sunday in May
Día de la Madre falls on the first Sunday of May, with the 1 May public holiday sitting right before it in the same opening week. The Sunday itself is the year's busiest for flowers: orders run many times higher than usual, delivery intervals widen, and no courier promises an exact minute. It pays to place the order several days before that Sunday rather than wait for it. Any zone can be booked for a set date and time, and the earlier that booking goes in, the more slots remain open.
Before the courier sets off, the finished bouquet is photographed, and the recipient only gets a call ahead if the sender has asked for one. The centre is delivered free, other zones at that zone's fixed rate; full detail sits on the delivery terms page. A mum staying in a hotel, or a sender booking from another country by phone, fits the same order form without any extra step.
A straightforward place to start is colour: roses for a repeat of April, or a shift to something newer. Pair whichever bouquet you pick with a small extra from the gifts to go with the bouquet, and the choice is done before the courier even leaves.