Peonies in Los Angeles

Peonies in Los Angeles: a Dutch spring, an Australian one and your bouquet

Peonies in Los Angeles have two springs at opposite ends of the year: one in the Netherlands, one in Australia. Both countries are among those whose cut flowers land at LAX, the country's second-busiest entry point for flowers after Miami. Dutch growers cut peonies from late April to June, the largest harvest of cut peonies anywhere; Australian growers cut from October, into their own summer. Before ordering, it helps to settle three things: the colour that suits the recipient's family, whether a real peony or a peony rose fits the occasion better, and whether the address even has a vase.

Through LAX from two springs: where peonies in LA are cut

The shipments that land at LAX come from Ecuador, Colombia, the Netherlands, Thailand and Australia, five countries that between them keep the city's flower shops stocked for most of the year. Almost four-fifths of the cut flowers sold in the US come from abroad in the first place. The season reads as almost year-round, though never quite, so one specific peony isn't guaranteed to be in stock every single week. How the coast and the Valley differ in climate is covered on flowers in Los Angeles.

King of flowers or a mourning white: peony colours for LA families

Koreatown's residents are roughly half Latino and about a third Asian, and in Korean and Chinese American tradition, white marks mourning rather than celebration. For a birthday or an anniversary in one of these households, pink or coral is the safer choice, and the pick the shade by colour subsection sorts the range by shade rather than by arrangement. White keeps its own place in the catalogue: the eleven white peonies arranged with eucalyptus suit a message of sympathy, where the colour itself carries the meaning. In China the peony is called the king of flowers and stands for wealth and honour, one reason it gets chosen as a gift in its own right rather than left to roses. Chinese tradition also steers around the number four in a stem count, and a sender can choose by stem count to avoid it without a second thought. A Russian-speaking recipient reads numbers differently again: an even count can land as a funeral tribute rather than a gift, so an odd number is the steadier default there too.

Peony delivery in Los Angeles: a real peony, a peony rose or both

A peony bouquet here might mean a real peony, a peony rose, or a wrap that holds both at once. The peony rose sold in the city is mostly English varieties bred by David Austin, available on its own among peony roses on their own. The Duo of Peony Roses and Peonies ties the two shapes together in a single wrap for anyone who wants both. The bouquets with peonies subsection pairs peonies with matthiola or with eucalyptus.

For an address with no vase to hand, a box or a basket solves the problem on its own: the stems sit in soaked foam rather than water. That foam needs watering every day, across its whole surface rather than in one spot. A bud still closed and firm as a marshmallow opens within one to two days in warm water and daylight. Once arranged in a vase, a peony lasts five to seven days if the water is changed daily.

JFLOO photographs the finished bouquet before the courier leaves, and most orders are handed over the same day they're placed; the exact timing for any one bouquet sits in its own card.

Starting with peonies in a box suits any address without a vase, and the delivery terms page covers how the order and the courier work from there.