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February 14 — Valentine's Day in Sydney: roses flown in, lilies left out
Every year ahead of February 14 — Valentine's Day in Sydney, the RSPCA NSW repeats the same request across New South Wales: leave lilies out of any bouquet bound for a home with a cat. The whole plant is toxic, from the pollen to the water left standing in the vase. Roses are what most people send instead, and the first practical question before ordering is who else lives at the address.
Flown in for the fourteenth: where Sydney's Valentine's roses grow
About half the cut flowers sold in Australia are imported, and roses lean on that supply chain hardest of all. Industry estimates put as many as nine in every ten roses on the Australian market as flown in from Kenya, Colombia and Ecuador. A rose sold as "French" is not a variety grown anywhere in particular; it is a technique, reflexing, where a florist turns the outer petals back by hand to open the bloom. At JFLOO the roses for a Valentine's order are bought only after payment clears, then cut and arranged specifically for that address, rather than pulled ready from a shelf.
Eleven Red French Roses and Eleven White French Roses are the same format in two colours, and the choice between them is made before payment, not after. Roses with Lisianthus suits anyone who would rather have the roses in company than as a solid block of one colour. However many stems are ordered, the number is fixed in the order and shows up in the photo taken before the courier leaves, so anything that needs adjusting can still be changed at that point. If a particular rose is out of stock, the florist substitutes one of a close shade and price, and that swap is visible in the same photo. The full stem count and both colours are listed under roses.
Beyond the bouquet: a box, strawberries or a heart-shaped balloon
Roses arranged in a box stand without a vase, which suits an evening spent away from home as much as one spent in it. Strawberries, a small cake and a foil heart-shaped balloon can all be added in the basket alongside the flowers, and the card that goes with them costs nothing extra, signed or not. For a restaurant dinner, the delivery time is arranged with the venue's manager in advance, so the flowers arrive right on cue, usually timed for dessert.
Valentine's flower delivery in Sydney with the photo before dispatch
Orders run at several times the normal volume through the day, and delivery windows widen to cope. Nobody promises an exact minute on the fourteenth itself, so ordering a few days ahead leaves more room to pick a slot. The card can carry a message or stay unsigned, and where there is no address to give, the recipient's phone number is enough to get the bouquet there. Hotel guests and anyone celebrating outdoors are worth a reminder too. The fourteenth falls in the Sydney summer, so a bouquet is best kept out of direct sun and off a hot car seat, a point covered on the flowers in Sydney page. Delivery zones across the city are listed with the current rates.
Choosing where to start is simpler with the address in mind. Flowers in boxes suit a hotel room or an office desk with nowhere to put a vase, while gifts to go with the bouquet cover the strawberries, cake and balloon in one place.