Delivery days and the substitution rule

Deliveries run Monday to Saturday, so most weeks give you six workable days to aim at. What goes into the bouquet is decided by what came in fresh that morning: if a particular flower isn't in, the florist swaps it for one of equal or greater value that keeps the same look. The colour, the scale and the shape you chose are what survives that swap, which is why the arrangement at the door still reads as your choice even when one variety ran short overnight.

Write the address the way Mexico writes it

Give the complete address: street and number, the five-digit postal code — the código postal, 06600 for instance — and the town or city, plus a phone number for the recipient. Florists use that number to confirm availability and the exact address, and it is the difference between a delivery completed by lunchtime and one that stalls at a locked gate. Apartment deliveries often need a door code as well; add it at checkout, where there is a field for it and it costs nothing.

What else you can send with the flowers

Over 200 gifts are ready to send, more than 100 of them flowers, with gift baskets, plants and chocolates alongside them. The local style is bold and densely packed, with vivid, saturated colour combinations — roses, carnations, gerberas, chrysanthemums, gladioli, dahlias and lilies come up most often, filled out with ruscus, eucalyptus, helecho (fern), leather leaf and asparagus fern. Bouquets are hand-tied and wrapped in cellophane or paper with ribbon. When words over the phone are not landing, something like that arriving at the door restarts the conversation — choose one and pick the day.

Villa Guerrero, Xochimilco and the Jamaica market

A good deal of what is sold is grown at home: roses, gerberas, gladioli, chrysanthemums, carnations, dahlias and cempasúchil (marigold) come from fields and greenhouses around Villa Guerrero and Tenancingo in the Estado de México, Atlacomulco, Xochimilco in Ciudad de México, and Puebla. Roses and gerberas are grown year-round in the greenhouses around Villa Guerrero, while cempasúchil supply peaks sharply in October, ahead of the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), when the bright orange and yellow flowers are used to welcome the spirits of the dead. Mercado de Jamaica in Ciudad de México is the wholesale market the trade passes through.

Day of the Dead, Mother's Day and the year's biggest dates Mother's Day (Día de las Madres), May 10, is the single largest flower-gifting occasion of the year, and large, colourful mixed bouquets are what most people send. On Valentine's Day (Día del Amor y la Amistad), February 14, red roses are the common gift between romantic partners. At Christmas (Navidad), December 25, poinsettias — known locally as nochebuena — are the seasonal plant for decorating the house. Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the exception to the usual schedule: florists open for the big flower days, so your order can arrive even when the date falls on a Sunday. Order at least 48 hours ahead.

Reaching someone who is travelling or out

Someone mid-journey — at an airport, railway station or cruise terminal — is almost impossible to reach with a delivery. Send to their hotel, office or home address instead, timed for after they arrive. If the recipient isn't home, the florist typically calls them or arranges redelivery. For a funeral, the standard tribute is a large floral wreath, a corona, carrying a ribbon with a condolence message; white flowers, especially lilies and white roses, are favoured as a symbol of peace and mourning. Wreaths and formal funeral pieces need 24–48 hours' notice.

How ordering from another country works

Ordering from another country takes a few minutes online, and a local florist handles the delivery — nothing crosses a border except your instructions. Write a card message at checkout and it travels with the flowers, free and exactly as you typed it. Gift baskets, plants and chocolates take the same route on the same order, if a bouquet is not the right answer this time. The distance you started with has come down to two decisions, the date and the address; make them and the rest of the morning is somebody else's job.