It's their birthday and you're in Brisbane, or just stuck at work in Mackay. Our birthday flowers go to the house or the workplace, and with three schools in the suburb, a lot of houses sit empty between the morning drop-off and the afternoon pick-up. So put their mobile in the notes, and if you know a shady spot, like the carport, name that too. (I took a lot of calls about empty houses in my years on the phones.)

For a grown-up, the natives are the safe bet. For a kid's birthday, send the Gerbera Bunch + Teddy + Birthday Balloon. Each gerbera stem is hollow (florists call it a scape) and bacteria block it fast, so whoever puts them in a vase should change the water every second day. If a head starts to droop, recut 2cm off the stem and stand it in shallow warm water for an hour, and it lifts again.

Someone has died, and you're sorting flowers in between everything else. Funeral flowers go to the funeral director (Whitsunday Funerals on Shakespeare Street and Mackay Funerals on Alfred Street are two), with the name of the person who has died and the service time. Flowers for the house often mean more a week later, once the visitors have thinned out. It's a small thing to send, and it's still what people remember. A card can just say "Thinking of you all. With love."

Anna, on keeping whites clean

White shows every mark first, by about day four, and warmth and afternoon sun bring the marks on sooner. In the coolest room in the house, the Gorgeous Whites Bunch stays clean the longest.

A teacher got your kid through a hard year. Thank-you flowers go to the front office at Eimeo Road State School, St Brendan's or Mackay Northern Beaches State High, and from what we've seen the office walks them down at the break.

In December 2007 I carried a thank-you bunch into Kingscliff Public School with Asha on my hip. Six buckets already sat on the office floor, each with a sticky note, and mine said Mrs and a surname (copied straight off the docket, which I'd written myself), and the school had two teachers by that name. Full name and class, every time.

Anna's call: the Simply Stylish With Chocolates & Vase. It lands in its own vase, so a jug from the staffroom has it drinking within minutes, where a wrapped bunch can sit dry on the desk until home time. In classroom air conditioning, that's what keeps the petals from drying at the edges.

A new job, a rough week, the neighbour who fed the dog. None of those fit a heading, and they don't need to. Anna has one she'd send.

The Florists Choice Bright Mixed Bunch. With no theme to match, the florist can put some personality into it, and bright suits a day with no script.