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Mono bouquets in London: Dutch tulips, mimosa and the chrysanthemum
Mimosa flowers from January to March and is the traditional flower of 8 March, a day Britain treats as ordinary while its Russian-speaking diaspora keeps it; mono bouquets in London include a mimosa section. A single-variety bouquet lets one flower set the whole character of a gift and its season, so the sensible place to start is where that flower came from and what it means to the person receiving it. London's flower calendar covers the rest of the year in more detail.
Dutch tulips, Kenyan roses: how one variety reaches London
Roughly nine in ten cut flowers sold in Britain are imported, and the Netherlands remains the main supplier. Roses come almost entirely from Kenya and Colombia, and their share has grown since 2021.
Tulips are a mainstay through the darker months, and tulip bouquets are cut from Dutch glasshouses between December and May. Growers put the bulbs through an artificial winter first, then force them under glass, which is why a London tulip in January is nothing unusual.
Roses for a mono bouquet mostly arrive by air, and more than a third of Britain's rose imports come through Heathrow. From farm to shop the stems are kept at around zero to two degrees, which is what lets a Kenyan rose survive a flight that long. A "French" rose is a florist's technique rather than a variety: the outer petals are simply turned back by hand.
Chrysanthemums in London: a cheerful flower, not a graveside one
In Britain the chrysanthemum is an everyday flower, not a funeral one. In France, Italy, Poland and several other European countries a large chrysanthemum bouquet is kept strictly for graves, so if the recipient grew up on the continent that history is worth bearing in mind before choosing chrysanthemum bouquets.
The flower earns its place for a simple reason: two to three weeks in a vase, longer than most cut flowers manage. The leaves yellow before the petals do, and they are stripped off as they go rather than left to spoil the look.
Britain sits outside the Eastern European habit of counting stems as even or odd, so a dozen of one flower is perfectly ordinary here. Anyone sending flowers to a recipient from Russia, Ukraine or Belarus should still choose an odd number, since that custom travels with the person rather than the city.
Mimosa, daffodils and hyacinth: London's short-season varieties
Among mono bouquets in London, mimosa keeps the shortest season of all, running from January into March, which is what ties it to a single date rather than to everyday use. Cornwall cuts daffodils from January to April, with demand peaking around Mothering Sunday and Easter.
Hyacinth and ranunculus are the other spring bulbs and tubers, in season across the northern hemisphere in those same months, and tulips run alongside them into May.
Every bouquet is made up after the order is placed, and the florist photographs it before the courier sets off. That is what mono bouquet delivery in London rests on. Most orders go out the same day they are booked, and the exact timing sits on the bouquet's own card. Start with tulips for winter and early spring, chrysanthemums where a long vase life matters most, and mimosa if the date is 8 March; wanting more than one flower in the same hand points towards mixed bouquets instead. Delivery details for the address itself sit on their own page.