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Flower bouquet as a gift, which flowers do you prefer and what colours?

(71 Posts)
Oreo Tue 19-Aug-25 13:27:48

Now and again I receive flowers as a gift as most of us do, and also buy them for other people.I really don’t like yellow flowers in the house ( not sure why) and don’t like the highly scented sickening lilies.Nor do I like red and white mixed flowers or chrysanths.😁I should tell people in advance but never do.
My favourite bouquet would be in pink and white or orange and apricot and favourite flowers carnations and pinks, roses and stocks.What do you like or give to others?

Patsy70 Tue 19-Aug-25 18:31:07

I love most flowers, though not too keen on Lilies or blowsy blooms. My friend recently gave me this arrangement with flowers from her garden.

JamesandJon33 Tue 19-Aug-25 18:54:30

Big, bronze, shaggy chrysanthemums. Love their shape and the sharp scent

eddiecat78 Tue 19-Aug-25 19:35:50

Looks like I'm the only person who doesn't appreciate being given cut flowers - am much happier if given a living plant for the garden.

M0nica Tue 19-Aug-25 19:40:03

Anyone sends me flowers. I love them, whatever they are. The flowers embody the goodwishes and care of the person who sent them to me - and, as far as I am concerned, rhat is all that matters.

At a personal level i do not like those garish bunches so popular on garage forecourts, but if given one I would love it

HelterSkelter1 Tue 19-Aug-25 19:44:37

We had a lilac in the garden of our last house and I loved cutting armfuls and filling jugs with them. Such a distinctive perfume.

When I read Rebecca I especially like the description of the flowers in the various rooms of Manderley.

Grandmadinosaur Tue 19-Aug-25 20:55:44

I like bright coloured flowers and especially yellow ones. I love gerberas,sunflowers, sweet peas, roses,daffodils,hyacinths,tulips and freesias. The smell of freesias always takes me back to being a bridesmaid when I was a child.

I can’t abide chrysanthemums.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 20-Aug-25 07:14:54

I do like flowers to be in season.

White and Green are simple and easy to live with but my joy is sn abundance of blended colours of cottage garden types

So delphiniums, phlox, penstemon, agastache of blues, purples and bruised colours are delightful this time of year, amongst so many in the garden. I’ve just discovered a red “chocolate” cosmos and what a lovely colour.

Soon it will, be vases full of purple, dark reds and bright pinks of aster -Michaelmas’s daisy. Or dahlias! Mine are deep red, peach, coffee colour and yellow.
Winter are evergreens with berries and dried flowers from the
Border.

Spring starting with daffs from February to May, when tulips are in their glory.

Summertime

Starting with bowls and bowls of roses. Oh and don’t forget bearded iris, such a short season, but utterly beautiful. But really spoilt for choice from May through to October.

Sorry I’ve gone on a bit, but I do love flowers, and flowers from the garden can’t be beaten. DHs 80th on Saturday, and I’m providing pink sweet peas and. roses, with greenery for the restaurant tables.

foxie48 Wed 20-Aug-25 07:43:08

I love flowers in the house but in summer, except for sweet peas which I grow to pick, I usually don't have cut flowers unless they're a gift. Favourites are daffs and tulips in the spring, peonies and roses in summer and dahlias in the autumn but I'm happy to receive any flowers. I'm not a fan of artificial looking colours but they can work if put with lots of greenery.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 20-Aug-25 08:09:34

Oh yes flowers as a gift - I got carried away😄.

Any - always welcome.

escaped Wed 20-Aug-25 08:14:43

Whitewavemark2

Oh yes flowers as a gift - I got carried away😄.

Any - always welcome.

😆
Well at least everyone is now very clear what you want when you are sent that gift!!

Babs03 Wed 20-Aug-25 09:35:51

I must also be in the minority who prefer a plant rather than cut flowers but if given flowers I am always thrilled. Can’t say which flowers would be my favourites I suppose I would be grateful for any.

lixy Wed 20-Aug-25 09:48:40

Daffodils in winter are always a joy. Gladioli, especially the dark red ones, when they are available. Nothing with a strong scent as it makes me sneeze!

But in general I prefer flowers to be growing in the garden.

If visiting I take plant rather than flowers as it doesn’t need sorting out straight away.

Jaxjacky Wed 20-Aug-25 10:46:23

Every single house plant I’ve ever been given, apart from an orchid I neglect, has died. Doesn’t matter what I do, from spider plants to various ferns, they don’t like me, friends and family know, so don’t buy them.

Babs03 Wed 20-Aug-25 10:55:43

@lixy, yes, exactly, please don’t take a bouquet for a dinner party host who is rushing around the kitchen like a mad thing trying to make sure everything is going well,
take a nice plant, after dinner choccies, or a nice bottle of wine.

HelterSkelter1 Wed 20-Aug-25 11:19:59

Good advice Babs03. I am very ungrateful, but I really don't like receiving flowers. It's an effort to find the right size vases, the colours in the bunch are often not to my liking and if they have been sent to me because I have been ill or very tired etc it really is the last thing I want to do. And it rather pains me to think how expensive they often are. And quite often not worth the expense. One bunch from a friend was wilted and the weather wasn't hot.

I like to buy my own plants and flowers. The most welcome in the post gift I have received is the through the letterbox Afternoon Tea from MS. Such a treat.

Astitchintime Wed 20-Aug-25 11:28:58

I like carnations, especially those with leafy side shoots as I nip those off and let then root in water to make another plant. My late mum told me how to do this and I take comfort from doing it since she died.

Labradora Wed 20-Aug-25 12:15:11

When sending flowers like everyone I send what they like e.g. one of my sisters loves freesias so I try to include them. She also loves those ghastly Lilies that I( and almost everyone else) seems to hate , so she gets those too.
Re Lilies they actually grow wild here in S West France which is a pity because I dislike the appearance, smell, staining red pollen? from the stamens and the association.They are often included in bouquets sold commercially which is bizarre as almost no-one seems to like them.
At home I love all roses but love yellow ones particularly and as well , blue Iris because they were some of my late mother's favourite flowers.
I do like pink or Queen of the Night purple Tulips and will happily buy or send them in the spring but they droop and die so quickly.
Detest Chrysanthemums. Appearance and association. Again here in France in November on All Souls Day the place is awash with them.
Love Hyacinths (any colour) in Spring.
Dahlias also I like but I rarely see cut dahlias.

Diplomat Wed 20-Aug-25 14:00:16

Bouquets always welcomed! Particularly love roses. Not keen on lots of colours together.

Bazza Wed 20-Aug-25 14:17:03

Snowdrops are my absolute favourite, usually around in February when my birthday is. My mother always managed to find me a small bunch with ivy leaves which I loved and still do. Carnations are my least favourite, I love peonies if they open and become blowsy, but sometimes they don’t which is always disappointing. I used to buy flowers every week but don’t any more because of the price of food!

grandMattie Wed 20-Aug-25 14:46:51

I love flowers but can’t cope with strongly scented ones like stargazer lilies and hyacinths.
I’m not keen on chrysanthemums, and not orange and pink or yellow and pink.
I prefer seasonal flowers and the less “stiff” ones but am always delighted to receive some . So rare now.
I always have flowers in the house. Curiously I’m much fussier about house plants.

cc Wed 20-Aug-25 14:51:35

I like either a bunch of flowers in all one colour, or a muted bunch of real English summer garden flowers.
I don't like those "filler" type plants like lisianthus, Golden Rod or roses which usually droop very quickly. Not so keen on chrysanthemums either, though some of the russety autumn ones are lovely and I do love plain white and yellow daisies - so fresh!
My husband would probably get me some plain white lilies, but as others have said the smell can be overpowering.
Like others, the only yellow flowers that I really have in the house are early daffodils.

cc Wed 20-Aug-25 14:54:46

A friend sent me a bouquet from Bloom and Wild earlier this year and it was quite lovely: muted colours, lovely mix of flowers and it stayed fresh for well over a week, even the roses. I'd certainly recommend them for online flowers.

poppysmum Wed 20-Aug-25 15:02:23

pink for me; a mix of stargazer lilies, roses and carnations so feminine. Otherwise a nice zingy lemon mix

crazygranmda Wed 20-Aug-25 15:16:24

I don't like cut flowers in the house, but love orchids. DH tends them and they last for years, unlike cut flowers.

Cambsnan Wed 20-Aug-25 15:39:54

Local flowers that are in season if possible. Avoid all those air miles!