Flower Baskets in Los Angeles

Flower baskets in Los Angeles: white lilies for mourning, colour for a party

White and yellow chrysanthemums are customary at Korean funerals in the US, Korean-American ones included, along with white lilies and white roses, the flowers behind Los Angeles's biggest white baskets. Flower baskets in Los Angeles are chosen by occasion first, and colour decides nearly everything after that.

White lilies or white roses for a Korean-American funeral

White and yellow chrysanthemums are the traditional funeral flowers in Korean custom, and Korean-American families in Los Angeles keep that custom at a wake, alongside white lilies and white roses. Chinese funeral custom favours the same pale palette, so a white basket reads correctly across more than one Asian-American household in the city.

The Los Angeles catalogue does not include a chrysanthemum basket, so the florist builds the white tribute from lilies or roses instead. The section sorted by flower is where that choice gets made, and a basket such as 101 White Ecuadorian Roses in a Basket shows how large a single colour can be scaled up for a funeral. Every basket has its own woven handle and stands without a vase, which matters when it has to travel straight to a service.

Peach, red or mixed: a Los Angeles basket for good news

In the same Korean-American and Chinese-American households, white reads as mourning, so a basket for a birth, a graduation or a housewarming in Los Angeles turns to warmer colour instead. The section sorted by colour lets a shopper start from the shade they already have in mind, rather than from the flower itself.

Red is the boldest choice, and a basket such as 201 French Red Roses makes the biggest statement in that colour. Peach sits a notch softer, and a basket built on peach roses keeps white in a supporting role, with a few stems of lisianthus lightening the top rather than setting the tone.

A hundred roses of one kind, or a florist's own mix

A mono basket is built around a stem count, made from one batch of Ecuadorian and French roses, and that count alone gives it its scale. The baskets by size make that scale easy to compare. A florist's own mix works differently: it is designed as a whole, and what goes into it is shown in the photo taken before the courier leaves, rather than promised in advance by name.

Ecuadorian cut flowers come into Los Angeles through LAX, the country's second-busiest flower entry point after Miami. The same order can carry chocolates and other gifts such as Ferrero Chocolates (Small) or a bento cake, and the card included with it costs nothing extra. None of it needs a street address: a phone number is enough to get the basket to the right door.

Flower baskets in Los Angeles divide first by flower, then by colour: baskets sorted by flower narrows the choice down to a single stem, and pick by colour narrows it down to a mood. Flower basket delivery in Los Angeles is free to the centre of town, every basket is photographed before the courier sets off, and the exact window appears on each basket's own page. Hotels, wards and the busy dates get their own notes in the flowers section.