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New Year compositions in Hong Kong: fir weeks before the Lunar New Year fair
Before Lunar New Year, on a date the lunar calendar sets anew each year, Hong Kong carries narcissus, peach blossom and kumquat trees home from the flower fairs, the largest one in Victoria Park. New Year compositions in Hong Kong come earlier than any of that: fir is needed for 31 December and 1 January, weeks before the fair opens. A composition either goes to someone else's door as a present or stays on a table at home for the week.
Fir to carry across the harbour: bouquets, baskets and a gold box
A visit to relatives or friends calls for something finished to hand over. Among the New Year bouquets, a hand-tied bouquet or a bag of nobilis, a basket with a handle or a gold box packed with fir all make a finished present.
Red, pink and peach are the colours the city reaches for on a happy occasion, which suits a Cantonese host. Red berries threaded through the branches, or a red branch tree in place of the usual green, both read as festive. White flowers, by contrast, are not given for birthdays or weddings.
One number is worth knowing before you order: four stems tend to be avoided, since in Cantonese "sei" sounds like the word for death. Stem counts, seasons and the city's calendar are explained on the main flowers page.
Hong Kong's country parks and public land protect their plants: pulling branches or flowers from them is not allowed, on a hillside or anywhere else open to everyone. The fir behind a New Year composition is cut stock, grown elsewhere and brought in for florists to work with, not gathered locally.
An order is paid first, and only then does the florist buy the fir and any flowers that go with it. The piece is built in wet floral foam.
The finished composition is photographed before the courier sets off, and changes can still be requested from that photo. Most orders are handed over on the day they are placed, though the timing for any one composition is shown on its own product card, and delivery within the centre costs nothing. Full delivery terms are listed on a separate page.
A branch tree and tabletop fir for a Hong Kong table
A tabletop arrangement, a wreath for the door or a branch tree built from fir cuttings, such as the New Year Tree from Danish Nobilis Branches, suits a single spot at home rather than a gift carried elsewhere. The foam is watered every day in a thin stream over its whole surface, and the pot is never tilted.
Winter is the mildest season of the year for flowers here. Stem counts, seasons and public holidays around the New Year are covered on the main flowers page.
A cake for the 31st, and New Year corporate gifts for the office
A bento cake takes a different route into the same evening: a cake with a short greeting piped onto the icing for whoever receives it, reaching Hong Kong by way of South Korea. Bento Cake "Happy New Year!" suits a flat, a desk or a gathering on the 31st.
An office order usually means several desks rather than one: several addresses can go into a single order, and delivery is charged for each address it reaches. A company can ask for an invoice to the company and the supporting accounting documents when ordering, under New Year corporate gifts.
Offices in Hong Kong close on 25 and 26 December and again on 1 January, so anything meant for a desk is best sent before those dates rather than on them.
When choosing New Year compositions in Hong Kong, start with where the piece will end up. A basket with a handle suits a visit across the harbour, tabletop arrangements suit the table at home, and a cake or a small box from New Year gifts suits the evening of the 31st.