There is a traditional flower for most anniversary years. Some of it is genuinely useful and some of it is Victorian invention that stuck. Here is the list, with an honest note on which ones are worth following.
The list
| Year | Traditional flower | Worth following? |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Carnation | Yes — but not supermarket carnations. Ours in pink or cream look nothing like them. |
| 2nd | Lily of the valley | Only in spring, and only briefly. Substitute white stock or lisianthus. |
| 3rd | Sunflower | Yes. Cheerful, long-lasting, unpretentious — sunflowers. |
| 4th | Geranium | No. It is a bedding plant. Send tulips. |
| 5th | Daisy | Yes. Light and unfussy — chamomile works beautifully here. |
| 10th | Daffodil | In season only. Otherwise yellow roses, which carry the same warmth. |
| 15th | Rose | Yes, and from here on roses are rarely wrong. |
| 20th | Aster | Obscure. Send a large-format rose arrangement instead. |
| 25th | Iris | Traditional, but the silver anniversary usually wants scale. 50 stems of something good. |
| 50th | Yellow rose and violet | Yes — or the largest thing we make, a 200-stem basket. |
When to ignore the tradition entirely
If they have a favourite flower, send that. Every year. The list exists for people who have run out of ideas, not as a rule.
And if the answer to “what do they like” is genuinely “I don’t know” after fifteen years, that is a more interesting problem than the bouquet.
How many stems
A rough scale that has held up across thousands of orders:
- 24 stems — reads as a proper gift. Right for most years.
- 50 stems — a milestone. Fifth, tenth, twentieth.
- 100 stems or a 200-stem basket — the numbers people remember. Twenty-fifth, fiftieth.
One thing worth thinking about before ordering large: where it is going. A 200-stem basket needs a surface, and it does not fit through a car door.
Getting the timing right
Anniversary orders split into two kinds: planned weeks ahead, and remembered at 11 AM on the day. Both work.
If you are planning: order ahead and choose the delivery date. You get a better bouquet, because we can source specifically for it.
If you have remembered this morning: you have until 1 PM. After that, call us — sometimes it is still possible, and we will tell you straight away if it is not. Details in our guide to the same-day cut-off.
Sending to a restaurant
A bouquet waiting at the table is a better moment than one handed over in a hallway. This needs timed delivery, from $30, arranged with the order before 1 PM. Give us the restaurant name, the booking time and the name the table is under, and we coordinate with the venue.
Browse anniversary flowers, or see where we deliver across Los Angeles.
