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Birthday in London: flowers for the six days Columbia Road is shut
A birthday in London doesn't wait for Columbia Road Flower Market, trading in the East End since 1869 but open only on Sundays, eight till two. A birthday bouquet here is made to order once payment clears, and the shop takes orders around the clock, with most handed over on the day they're placed, so the choice starts with the flower rather than the day of the week. The market's single trading day was moved to Sunday by an Act of Parliament, for the sake of its Jewish traders.
Kenyan stems and hand-turned petals: the London birthday rose
Most cut flowers sold in Britain travel from abroad: close to nine in ten stems are imported, and Kenya sends almost nothing but roses. Nearly all imported roses arrive by air, more than a third of them through Heathrow, kept at around two degrees from farm to shop. Every hour spent warm afterwards shortens the time the rose later holds in a vase.
What's sold as a "French" rose isn't a variety, it's a technique: the florist turns the outer petals back by hand to open the bud wider. The fifteen French Roses "Jumilia" in the birthday range show it clearly, a bud up to seven centimetres across, white at the base and pink along the edge, holding for up to two weeks with good care.
Garden peonies in Britain flower only from late April to June, and a peony-shaped rose such as Peony Roses Bubbles No. 3 fills the same role for a birthday in any other month. Florists' colour dictionaries read red as passionate love and yellow as friendship, though the books disagree, so treat it as a hint: red for a partner, yellow for a friend.
From Dutch glass: lilies, gerberas and hydrangea in a birthday mix
The Netherlands supplies most of the cut flowers sold in Britain, and lilies, gerberas and lisianthus are among them, grown under glass and available every month of the year. A birthday in January draws on the same stock as one in July.
For the Hydrangea and Misty Bouquet, note that hydrangea drinks more water than most cut flowers, through its petals as well as its stem. A drooping head revives if it is submerged whole in cool water for an hour or two.
Lily pollen marks fabric, which is why florists remove the anthers once a bloom has opened. Every part of a lily, along with the water in its vase, is toxic to cats, so don't send lilies to a home with a cat. Roses paired with daisies, or with lisianthus, read softer than roses alone, a gentler choice for a birthday where loud flowers wouldn't suit.
A hand-tied bunch for the doorstep, a box for the dinner table
A hand-tied bouquet, built in a spiral, stands on a table without a vase, and the Summer Basket No. 2 needs none either. More in flower baskets. Or choose from flowers in boxes.
For a birthday dinner, the time is worth agreeing with the restaurant in advance, so the flowers reach the table with the dessert or with the toast, not before the meal has started.
A card written in your own words comes free, and printed cards are also available with the bouquet. A bento cake, a Korean idea named after the Japanese lunch box, carries a short message piped onto the icing, but a cream cake shouldn't stand at room temperature for more than two hours. Balloons and sweets can be added through gifts to go with bouquets. A hotel reception, an office front desk or a flat with radiators each has its own handover rules: see hotels, offices and London flats.
Birthday flower delivery in London starts with a photograph: the florist pictures the finished bouquet before the courier sets off, so the sender sees it before it's gone. The recipient isn't called ahead, and the sender's name doesn't have to appear on the card at all; a phone number is enough even without a street address. How long delivery takes is shown on each bouquet's own page, and how delivery works across London covers the rest.
A first choice for a birthday in London is easiest by flower rather than by format: browse roses for the classic option, or look at mixed bouquets where several kinds share a vase. Flowers in boxes are worth a look too, and a message written on the card costs nothing extra.