Gifting Guide: Get Well Soon Flowers

My name is Siobhan, and I run Lily's Florist with my partner Andrew. We've been sending flowers across Australia since 2009, but this story starts earlier, in a small florist shop in Kingscliff NSW that we probably shouldn't have bought in 2006. Our accountant told us not to, stubborn I am at times. We did it anyway, pregnant with our first daughter Asha, zero experience in flowers aside from receiving a few from Andrew over the years, convinced we could figure it out. And we did, sort of, with a lot of stumbling along the way.

* Where we learned the craft. This tiny shop was our classroom. We were pregnant with Asha and trying to figure out why some flowers make people smile and others just clutter up a room.

That shop taught us everything about why people send flowers. The phone calls, the walk ins, the stories people shared while we wrapped stems in brown paper. Get well flowers were always the orders that stuck with me most.

What We Learned About Get Well Flowers in the Shop

I remember one afternoon in the Kingscliff shop, it would have been late 2007, a woman came in looking completely lost. Her husband had just had a heart attack, he was in Tweed Hospital, and she wanted to send something to his room but had no idea what. She kept saying "I don't want anything sad looking" over and over. We ended up putting together this bright mix of gerberas and some greenery, nothing fancy, but the colours were ridiculous in the best way. She came back a week later to tell us her husband had complained the flowers were "too loud" but that he smiled every time he looked at them. That complaint was the whole point.

Another time, and this one still makes me laugh, a bloke walked in wanting flowers for his mate who'd done his ACL playing rugby, albeit a little awkward and shy too. He was adamant he didn't want "anything girly" which, fair enough. We talked him into a native arrangement, all banksias and eucalyptus, earthy and structured. He texted us a photo later of his mate propped up in bed giving a thumbs up with the arrangement on the bedside table. The card apparently said "Stop being soft and get back on the field." Flowers can carry that energy too.

The third one that comes to mind happened during a particularly quiet June. A young mum came in wanting to send flowers to her own mother who was recovering from surgery in Brisbane. We couldn't deliver to Brisbane at that point, we were just a tiny Kingscliff shop, and I had to tell her no. The look on her face gutted me. That interaction, more than almost any other, planted the seed for what Lily's Florist eventually became. The idea that someone standing in our shop, wanting to do something kind for someone they loved, couldn't because of geography. It felt wrong. A year later we had partner florists in Brisbane and about 20 other cities. Now we have over 800 across Australia.

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Choosing Get Well Flowers That Actually Help

I asked Anna about this recently. Anna's been with us for over 16 years now, she was one of our first employees when we set up that home office in Pottsville with the desks crammed into the double garage. She's an ex florist herself, which gave us credibility with partner florists back when we were just two people with a baby and an idea.

"The mistake people make with get well flowers is going too big," Anna told me. "Hospital rooms are small. Bedside tables are cluttered with water jugs and tissues and medication. You want something that fits into that space without taking over. Arrangements are better than bunches for hospitals because they don't need a vase, they're already in water, they just sit there and do their job."

She's right. When someone's recovering, the last thing they need is to hunt down a vase or worry about stems wilting because they can't get out of bed to change the water.

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Four Get Well Flowers We Recommend

Florists Choice Get Well Bunch

If you know the recipient has a vase at home, or they're recovering somewhere other than a hospital, a bunch works beautifully. This one's wrapped and ready to go, bright and cheerful without being overwhelming. It's also our most affordable get well option if budget matters, which it often does when medical bills are piling up.

"I recall taking a call back in the Pottsville office days from a woman whose sister had just been diagnosed with something serious," Anna said. "She was in tears on the phone, worried she couldn't afford to send something nice because of all the costs the family was facing. I walked her through this bunch and explained that $74.50 gets her sister fresh flowers made by a real florist, delivered the same day, with a card message she could personalise. The price doesn't mean lesser quality. It means fewer stems, that's all. Our partner florists don't drop their standards based on the order value. I've seen the photos customers send back. The $74 bunches look just as beautiful as the $150 ones, just smaller. And sometimes smaller is exactly right for a hospital room anyway."

Florists Choice Get Well Arrangement

This is our most popular get well product for a reason. The arrangement comes in its own container with floral foam, which means the recipient doesn't need to do anything except enjoy it. Our partner florists choose the freshest flowers they have that day, so there's variety and colour without you having to overthink it.

"People ring up stressed about choosing the wrong thing," Anna told me last week. "They'll ask me what colour, what type, how big. And I tell them the same thing every time. Our partner florists have been doing this for decades, some of them. They know what's sitting in their shop that morning, they know what's at its peak, and they know how to put together something that looks balanced and bright. When you choose florist's choice, you're not getting leftovers. You're getting whatever that florist is most excited about that day. I've been in floristry long enough to know that's when you get the best work, when the florist is working with flowers they're proud of."

Australian Native Arrangement

Natives last longer than traditional flowers. That's not marketing spin, it's just how banksias and eucalyptus work. For someone facing a longer recovery, natives keep looking good for weeks. They also suit recipients who might find roses or lilies a bit much. There's something grounding about Australian natives, less fussy, more honest.

"I push natives for longer hospital stays and I'll tell you why," Anna explained. "Traditional flowers, your roses, your lilies, they're gorgeous but they have a shelf life. After a week they're starting to drop petals and look sad, which is the opposite of what you want in a recovery room. Natives just sit there looking good. Banksias hold their shape for weeks. Eucalyptus dries beautifully so even when the arrangement is technically past its prime, it still looks intentional. I've had customers tell me their natives lasted three weeks in a hospital room and still looked presentable when they brought them home. The other thing with natives, and this comes up a lot, is scent. Lilies especially can be overpowering in a small room, and some hospitals actually ban them from certain wards because of the fragrance. Natives have that subtle eucalyptus smell, it's fresh, it's not going to give anyone a headache or trigger allergies."

Pastel Bunch With Vase

This one solves the vase problem while still being a bunch rather than an arrangement. Soft colours, nothing too intense, the kind of flowers that work in a hospital room but also transition nicely to a home once someone's discharged. The vase is included, which sounds like a small thing until you're the person lying in a hospital bed wondering what to do with a bunch of stems wrapped in cellophane.

"The vase inclusion, when I was I was a full time florist, and answering calls for Lily's Florist, is something I really push for hospital deliveries when people don't want to go with an arrangement," Anna said. "Here's what happens otherwise. The flowers arrive, they're beautiful, they're wrapped in paper and cellophane with the stems in a water bubble. The patient is in bed, maybe can't move easily, and now they're either buzzing a nurse to find a vase or the flowers are sitting on the table slowly dying because there's nowhere to put them properly. I've heard those stories from customers. 'The flowers were lovely but my mum couldn't do anything with them.' That's heartbreaking. The vase isn't a luxury add on, it's practical by all measure. The pastels specifically work well because they're calming. I'd never send bright reds or oranges to someone recovering from surgery. You want soft, restful colours. Pinks, creams, soft lavenders. Colours that say 'rest' not 'party'."

Practical Stuff That is Important

We offer same day delivery across Australia if you order before 2pm on weekdays or 10am on Saturdays. Delivery is $16.95, which we actually subsidise because the real cost is often higher depending on where the flowers are going. Our partner florists handle the delivery themselves or use local couriers they trust.

If you're sending flowers to a hospital, include the ward name and bed number if you have it. Our team will call the hospital to confirm details if needed. We've been doing this for 17 years and we know how to navigate the system.

For nursing homes, the same applies. We deliver to all of them, public and private.

You can call us on 1300 360 469 if you want to talk through options. Our team is Australian based, no offshore call centres, and several of them have floristry backgrounds. They can help you figure out what's appropriate for the situation.

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Why This Matters to Us

I think about that young mum in our Kingscliff shop sometimes, the one who wanted to send flowers to her mother in Brisbane and couldn't. Building Lily's Florist into what it is today means that conversation doesn't happen anymore. If someone calls us wanting to send get well flowers to a hospital in Cairns or a nursing home in Hobart or a house in suburban Perth, we can make it happen. Same day, in most cases.

The flowers aren't made in a warehouse or shipped overnight through Australia Post. They're made by real florists in real shops, local people who take pride in what they create. Some of our partner florists have been with us for 15 years. They know what we expect and they deliver on it.

Get well flowers are about presence when you can't be present. They're about saying "I'm thinking of you" in a way that sits on a bedside table and keeps saying it for days. We take that seriously.