Flower Delivery Centenary Heights Today, Home or School

It's their birthday today and you're nowhere near Centenary Heights. At two in the afternoon someone's at work and someone's on the school run, so put a mobile and a shaded spot in the notes (the side door, the neighbour). Turning forty with kids underfoot? Our 40th birthday flowers include the Gerbera Bunch + Teddy + Birthday Balloon, and there are birthday flowers for a friend too.

Anna's tip: the Florists Choice Birthday Bunch is hand-tied, the stems spiralled from one binding point, so it stands up in whatever jug they grab first.

Mum's at BlueCare on Stenner Street, or Dad's on a ward at St Vincent's Private or Toowoomba Hospital, and you're a long drive away. In our experience staff take flowers through from reception, so a full name and room number in the notes matter most. There are 90th birthday flowers for the big one and hospital flowers for the ward. On the card: “Thinking of you, Mum. Love from all of us.”

Anna, on a memory support room

Familiar flowers suit it best, the roses and daisies someone grew up with, low on scent, in something heavy that won't tip. Simply Stylish With Chocolates & Vase arrives already in its vase.

The notice says St Thomas More's on Ramsay Street, or a service through Hiram Philp Funerals on Herries Street. Send to the service with the time, the funeral director and the full name in the notes; the Pink Lily & Rose Sheath is made to lie flat at the front, and there are more sympathy lilies and sympathy roses. The house can take something smaller, a Florists Choice Sympathy Bunch a week on, once the visitors thin out. Flowers won't make any of this easier, and the family will still read every card. Try “With love, and so sorry.”

Lilies open bud by bud. Pinch the orange anthers out as each one opens, and the pollen stays off the tablecloth.

Some orders don't fit a heading: the Year 6 teacher at Gabbinbar, the neighbour who fed the dog, a thank you for no reason at all. In December 2007 I drove nine little bunches from our Marine Parade shop to the office at St Anthony's school in Kingscliff, Asha asleep in her capsule, and had spelt two teachers' names wrong in my very best handwriting. Full names in the notes, please.

Anna's pick: the Blue Mist Arrangement. It's built in its own container, so it sits on a school counter or a kitchen bench straight away, and the blues suit a man as well as a woman.