Birthday in Paris

Birthday in Paris: why the French rose is a florist's fold

For a birthday in Paris, the words "French rose" sound like a local harvest, though they describe a florist's trick: petals folded back by hand to open each bud wider than it would open on its own. Roughly four cut flowers in five sold in France are imported, most of them through the Netherlands. What matters for the birthday person is the shape of the bud and the colour, not where the stem grew.

French roses in Paris: turned by hand, grown elsewhere

A French rose is not a variety: it is a fold. Florists bend the outer petals back by hand so the bud opens wide, and eleven stems treated this way read as a fuller bouquet than their count suggests.

Paris florists buy their stock from wholesalers in the cut-flower pavilion at the Rungis market, just outside the city.

Colour carries a rough meaning rather than a fixed rule: red reads as passionate love, pink as something softer, though the old flower dictionaries never agreed on a single list. That is roughly why, for a birthday in Paris, eleven red French roses suit a partner and eleven white-and-pink stems suit a friend or a mother, more often than the other way round.

A box of fifteen stems, sold without a variety name, opens to buds about seven centimetres across, pale at the base and rose-pink along the edge, and holds for close to two weeks with care. Peony-shaped roses are usually David Austin varieties, bred for that dense, cupped head rather than the classic pointed bud.

French and two-tone roses usually last about a week, sometimes closer to ten days, whatever the colour.

Lily, hydrangea or gerbera when a cat shares the flat

Lilies are toxic to cats in every part, the pollen and vase water included, so a flat with a cat is the one place to leave them out — only the sender usually knows that detail in advance.

An open lily also sheds pollen that stains fabric and barely washes out. Taking the anthers off once the lily opens stops the pollen staining anything, and any pollen that lands on a sleeve comes off with sticky tape, never by rubbing.

Hydrangea heads drink through their petals as well as the stem, so a bloom that wilts in transit revives within an hour or two once its face sits in cool water.

Lily, gerbera and eustoma are greenhouse flowers, available all year round. Roses with Lisianthus pairs the rose with eustoma for a softer bouquet; lily and gerbera come in the mixed bouquets with lily or gerbera.

Chrysanthemums are kept for graves at Toussaint in France rather than given for birthdays, one of a few customs covered on the flowers in Paris page.

Bouquet, basket or bento: finishing a Paris birthday order

A hand-tied bouquet suits a flat door, since the recipient can drop it straight into a vase. A basket stands on its own without one, which makes it the better choice for a restaurant table, where it can simply be set down among the plates.

Adding a bento cake to the same order is possible: it's a palm-sized cake with a short message piped onto the icing, best kept for a dinner the same evening since it holds for no more than two hours without a fridge.

A card written in your own words comes with the order at no extra cost, and it doesn't need signing. A courier photo before the bouquet leaves, restaurant timing and delivery zones across Paris are all covered on the Delivery page.

A good starting point for a birthday in Paris is the address rather than the occasion itself. Pick a box of roses for a flat where nobody wants to hunt for a vase, or a flower basket for a restaurant table. Add a cake or a balloon to go with the bouquet if the evening calls for more than flowers.