Same Day Flower Delivery Mount Coolum, Home or Estia

The birthday is today and you won't be at the table. Order before 2pm on a weekday and the flowers go out today, to the house or to their work, and add a mobile in case nobody answers. For a 40th or any other birthday, the Gerbera Bunch + Teddy + Birthday Balloon does the job on its own.

Anna's tip: a gerbera stem is hollow, and in a warm room the bacteria in old vase water clog it until the head folds at the neck. Recut the stem by two centimetres and stand it in a few centimetres of fresh, warm water for an hour. The head lifts.

Mum or Dad is in care now, and you can't just drop in. Estia Health Mount Coolum, on Suncoast Beach Drive, has rooms for couples. Put the full name and room number in the notes, and both names if it's the two of them. In our experience reception takes the flowers and a staff member carries them through.

In 2008 I took a 90th birthday arrangement into Raffles, the aged-care home on Falcon Way at Tweed Heads South. The birthday girl already had four on her windowsill and ranked them for me while I stood there. Mine came second, behind her grandson's pot plant. A 90th at Estia gets the same windowsill line-up, and in our experience nobody in a care room has a spare vase, so pick an arrangement that stands up on its own. For an ordinary week, thinking of you flowers with "Just thinking of you, Mum" on the card do plenty.

Water in floral foam goes stagnant if nobody tops it up, and the stems rot from the base. A splash from a cup every couple of days keeps an arrangement drinking.

You've heard the news second-hand and want something there today. Sympathy flowers go to one of two places, and both can usually go the same day. For the service, they go through the funeral director: put the venue and start time in the notes, and order a day ahead if the service is in the morning. A sheath, the flat spray laid on the casket, is the usual pick from our wreaths and sheaths. For the family, sympathy flowers to the house can go the same day or the week after, when the visitors thin out, with "Thinking of you all" on the card. Flowers don't fix anything. People still remember who sent them.

Anna, on white flowers in a sunny kitchen

Whites and creams stay cleanest out of the afternoon sun. Pull any petal that browns at the edge and the rest of the head carries on.

No birthday and no funeral: a neighbour fed the cat for a fortnight, or a friend finally got the keys to a new place. Thank-you flowers or something just because covers it. Pastels don't pick a side, so they read as thanks, hello or well done, and the Beautiful Pastels Bunch is where I'd start. Anna on why a bunch like that holds up:

A florist's hand-tied bunch has every stem crossing at one binding point, so each stem reaches the water on its own and the bunch stands up when you set it down. Leave the tie on in the vase. It's holding the shape.