So Valentine’s Day is here and, yet again, you’ve forgotten beforehand to buy flowers or arrange to have them delivered. Fret not, you shameless procrastinator you, all is not lost.
Short of painstakingly growing your own flowers in a backyard greenhouse and plucking the choicest ones on the day itself for your sweetheart (which, undoubtedly, is a very romantic option), most of us will have to settle for the store-bought variety.
The first thing to remember is that many florists know just how close you like to cut things and as a result do offer same-day delivery on Valentine’s Day, albeit for a higher price given the demand. Get that phone charged up and start calling your local florists (or start Googling “massive apology” if you come up short). Pickings will get slimmer as time nears the evening on V-Day regardless though, so get moving as early as possible.
Consider other flowers, or even plants, instead of roses. Marketers have promoted roses as the de-facto floral choice for Valentine’s Day but there’s no reason any other flower can’t proclaim love just as well. Roses are also particularly expensive and often hard to come by at the last minute, whereas florists might still have plenty of other gorgeous flowers left in stock to bail out your procrastinating self on the crucial day. If your sweetheart has a favourite flower, go with that instead or even consider a beautiful potted plant – it will last much longer as a symbol of your love. A juniper bonsai plant or young bamboo shoots curved into the shape of a heart are a few great choices.
If you have a special arrangement you want done, you really need to order early, since florists will be so swamped on Valentine’s that most won’t offer any last minute arranging – so create your own. Order a collection of different flowers from the florist and arrange them yourself.
Doing so will let you personalize the bouquet anyways and might even save you some money. Look at online photos of flower arrangements to get some ideas if you’re not particularly creative.
