Occasions in Boston

Occasions in Boston, from Lilac Sunday to a new key on 1 September

Occasions in Boston keep a shape of their own, as Mother's Day shows. Lilac Sunday at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain falls on the second Sunday of May, the one day of the year the grounds allow picnics among the lilac. Every occasion in the city keeps its own month and its own format, from a new flat taken on 1 September to a card nobody signs. This page sorts them by date and recipient, so choice starts before the bouquet does.

Lilac Sunday in Jamaica Plain and a bouquet for Mother's Day

The Arnold Arboretum covers 281 acres of Harvard's land in Jamaica Plain, with a lilac collection of more than 400 plants in 173 forms. On Lilac Sunday picnics are allowed on the grounds for that day only.

A bouquet fits either side of the outing: roses with lisianthus or lilies handed over before the family leaves, or hydrangea left waiting at home for their return.

Mother's Day is one of the occasions in Boston covered here, timed to match lilac season exactly. By SAF's count it ranks third among American flower-buying holidays, about 26 per cent of the year's holiday transactions. On the Boston delivery page it is among the dates when order volumes run far above normal: time slots widen, nobody promises a precise minute, and booking a few days ahead is the safer habit.

Easter moves with the moon, and the Western and Orthodox dates coincide in only about three years out of ten. A recipient keeping the Orthodox calendar wants a bouquet a week later, worth checking before booking Easter flowers.

Administrative Professionals Day lands on the Wednesday of the last full week of April, marked with cards, flowers, chocolates or a lunch out. A compact desk arrangement suits the day better than a tall vase of flowers.

Commencement season runs from late April through the end of May, and timing a bouquet for a new graduate is easy to get wrong. Graduation bouquets are sorted by size rather than by school.

A new lease on 1 September, an anniversary in October

1 September is lease day across the city: Moving Day, known locally as Allston Christmas, after what tenants leave on the kerb for anyone to take. Allston, Fenway and Mission Hill fill with vans and hand trucks before new tenants find the kettle.

The address can still be only hours old. If it is not settled yet, a recipient phone number is enough. Housewarming flowers often take the shape of hydrangea with statice, handed over in person.

Massachusetts weddings run from May to October, with the busiest weeks from late September into mid-October, which is why anniversaries built around a wedding follow the same stretch a year on. The materials behind them come from two older customs:

• paper, wood, tin — the first, fifth and tenth anniversaries, an English custom from the nineteenth century
• silver, gold — the twenty-fifth and fiftieth, a German tradition from the sixteenth century, with its own place under Golden Wedding Anniversary

These pair naturally with wedding anniversary choices, sorted by the stage of the marriage.

Birth of a Child, From the Maternity Hospital, Hospital Discharge, Get Well Wishes and Christening cover family news that brings flowers rather than cards, each answering the same question: who receives the bouquet, and where.

For a new mother or a patient leaving hospital, pale roses, hydrangea with statice, or a low box suit the room better than a tall arrangement, standing on its own with no vase to hunt for.

Ward rules differ from one hospital to the next, and the manager checks in advance whether a ward allows fresh flowers at all. Where it does not, the handover moves to the nurses' station or waits for discharge day, covered together with winter delivery conditions under hospital wards and winter weather. A new baby in the family is its own occasion, sorted under a new baby.

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, and its flowers are chosen for a table rather than a doorway. A low arrangement or a basket sits better among dishes than a tall bouquet, with its own place under Thanksgiving bouquets.

By SAF's count, 14 February is the single biggest flower-buying day of the American year, roughly 30 per cent of holiday transactions. A bouquet's route only gets colder from there through early spring, worth weighing alongside the ward rules above.

Thank You, Apology, Date Night, Thinking of You and Anonymous Flower Delivery share no fixed date, each answering its own moment. The courier works from a name and an address alone, and the card inside can stay unsigned if that is the point.

Flower delivery for every occasion in Boston starts the same way regardless of the date. Each bouquet is put together only after the order is placed, and the arrangement is photographed before the courier leaves. Delivery across the city centre costs nothing, the rest of the delivery zones are listed on their own page, and most orders are delivered on the day they are placed, with the exact window shown on the bouquet's own page.

Where to start depends on whose calendar you are following. A birthday near Mother's Day points towards lilac season, a friend who has just signed a lease suits Housewarming flowers, and a family gathering in November sits under Thanksgiving bouquets. The rest of the calendar waits further down this page.