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Flower baskets in Melbourne: Ecuadorian roses and Victoria's spring flowers
Ecuador is one of the five main countries Australia buys cut flowers from. Its roses appear on the 101-rose flower baskets in Melbourne, red or white. A basket here comes down to three choices: the flower, the season and whether you or the florist settles on the colour.
Ecuadorian roses by the hundred, in any month
Roughly half of the cut flowers sold in Australia are brought in from overseas, and the main suppliers are Malaysia, Kenya, Ecuador, China and Colombia. Ecuador's roses are the ones that fill the hundred-rose baskets in the Melbourne range.
Local growers cut fewer stems through winter, so the imported share climbs, and a hundred-rose basket stays on offer even in July rather than waiting for warmer months. At that scale the choice narrows to one thing: a basket of 101 roses comes in red or in white, and picking the colour is the only decision left once the size is settled.
Whichever is chosen, the roses are bought to order once payment clears, not pulled from a shelf in advance, and the stems are photographed before the courier sets off. For roses outside a basket, the roses section covers the rest of the range.
Peonies from October, chrysanthemums in May: a basket by season
Australian peonies are cut from October into November and on through the southern summer, the reverse of the calendar most basket ranges elsewhere follow. Tulips flower at Silvan in the Dandenongs, about 35 kilometres east, through September and October.
Chrysanthemums peak in May, the last month of autumn, the same month that carries Mother's Day among Melbourne's flower dates. Either flower can be asked for directly: describe the occasion and the budget in a chat, and the reply comes back as photos and prices to choose from before anything is paid.
That route isn't limited to the seasonal flowers. It works for any look the named range doesn't cover, and it keeps the final basket a matter of agreement rather than a guess at what might arrive.
Designer, duo or picked by colour: when the florist chooses
Two of the subsections hand the decision to someone else rather than to a flower name: baskets picked by colour, and the designer and duo baskets, where the arrangement itself is the point rather than any single stem. A photo brought along does the same job as a written description: show an example, and the reply comes back with similar work already priced.
When a particular bloom isn't in stock, the florist swaps in something close in shade and cost, and that swap shows up in the photo taken before the courier leaves rather than at the door. A basket needs no vase: it stands on its own woven base, with the stems held in water-soaked foam, which is also why it suits a desk or a hallway table as well as a windowsill.
Delivery for flower baskets in Melbourne is free in the centre and priced by zone elsewhere, with the slot shown on each basket's page; most orders go out the day they're placed, and the delivery terms page has the rest. Hotels, wards, orders placed from abroad and the rest of the city's flower calendar sit together on the hotels, wards, ordering from abroad and the city's flower calendar page. The simplest way in from here is by flower, through the baskets sorted by flower list, or by asking for peonies outside their basket season.