Housewarming in Cape Town

Housewarming in Cape Town: flowers for a new home, even without the address

Housewarming in Cape Town often arrives by phone number before it arrives by street name. Friends have just moved, the new address may not be written down anywhere yet, and a recipient's phone number is enough to place the order. Once the flowers are on their way, what matters is who lives in the new flat and what there is to put the bouquet in while the vases are still in a box.

Which flowers suit a new home

Two lily arrangements sit in the grid, 15 Lilies and 51 Lilies in a Basket, and lilies are worth a pause if the new flat has a cat. Every part of the plant is toxic to cats, including the pollen and even the water left in the vase, which is why lilies are not the safest housewarming gift for a cat owner.

Lily pollen is also hard on fabric. Once a bloom opens, the anthers are usually removed, and any pollen that has already fallen is lifted off a sofa or curtains with sticky tape rather than rubbed in.

For a gift meant to last through the unpacking, dianthus (15 Dianthus) and mixed alstroemeria (13 Mixed Alstroemeria) hold in a vase for two to three weeks. A rose lasts about a week, sometimes closer to ten days. The lavender spray roses and peony roses in the grid are worth a look too, as a softer option in the same range.

25 Mixed Roses in a Box and 51 Lilies in a Basket need no vase at all: the stems sit in wet floral foam, and the basket stands on its own on a table or shelf.

Watered daily, the foam keeps an arrangement going for about as long as a vase would. Water goes in a thin stream over the whole visible surface rather than down one side, and the arrangement is never tipped, since foam that has dried out barely takes water back.

An ordinary hand-tied bouquet has no foam of its own, but the order basket lets you add a vase or sweets, balloons included. Whichever format arrives, it does best away from radiators, direct sun and a bowl of ripe fruit nearby.

Housewarming flowers delivery to a new address

Without the new address in hand, the order form still works: a recipient's phone number is enough, and the florist takes it from there.

The recipient is not called ahead of time unless the sender asks for it. The one exception is a building nobody can enter without buzzing in, where the courier rings from the door instead of guessing.

A card message comes free with the order, signed or left anonymous, and the courier is told nothing beyond a name and an address. A photo of the finished bouquet goes to the sender before the courier leaves, and a short note follows once it has been handed over. Most orders are handed over on the day they are placed, and the exact timing sits in the bouquet's own listing; see how delivery works.

If the vases are still somewhere in a box, flowers in boxes and flower baskets need nothing from the new flat but a table. A phone number is enough to get either one to the door, address or no address.