To send flowers to a nursing home or an assisted living apartment, you order much as you would for any house in Raleigh, Durham or Cary. The order just needs more on it. Give the resident's full name, the name of the community, the building or wing, the apartment number and a phone number that someone actually answers. Pick a compact arrangement in the smallest size, in the colors she has always worn, something that fits on a dresser. Sign the card with the name she calls you. If the date matters, order a day or two ahead. And before any of that, call the community's front desk and ask how they handle deliveries, because every building does it a little differently. Delivery is priced by where she lives. Enter your ZIP for the current delivery charge.
Call the front desk before you place the order
There is no single rule on flowers in nursing homes. The answer sits with each community, and it can differ from one building to the next, so the desk is who to ask. Four questions cover almost everything. Are fresh flowers welcome in her room? Will someone carry the arrangement up, or will they call her down for it? When is the desk staffed? If you want to add something sweet, is food allowed in the apartment? If she lives in memory care, ask the staff on her floor what suits her. They see her every day.
Write their answers down and type them into the delivery instructions field at checkout. Our delivery page says that field is for "gate codes, preferred drop-off locations", and a line such as "front desk, main building, staff will take it to apartment 214" is the kind of note it was made for. (That is an example; use what your building told you.)
What our driver needs to find her
The full name matters most. Our same-day page gives the same advice for hospital desks: "Put the patient's full name on the order; the desks can find people by name." The building, wing and apartment number go on the order as well.
Then the phone number. From the FAQ: "We always try calling or texting the recipient first to let them know we're arriving." If your mother keeps her phone in a drawer, give the number of whoever does pick up, and that may be the front desk. In buildings with a security desk or a concierge, "we coordinate so the arrangement reaches the right person," as the same-day page puts it. When nobody answers, the driver looks for a building lobby, a front desk or a neighbor, and the FAQ adds, "We'll always leave a note or send a text so the recipient knows exactly where to find them."
It is fine if she takes a while to reach the door. If she uses a walker, say so in a line at checkout. Robby H. wrote on our reviews page, "I recently ordered flowers online for my mother." What he remembered about the handoff was this: "The delivery driver was very kind and ensured she received them."
An email comes when the order is placed, another when it is out for delivery and a third once it has been delivered. If something is off with the address or the timing, we get in touch with you directly. Before it leaves the studio you get a photo of what is going to her room, and that counts for a lot when you live four states away.
Hilary Blank, who ordered for her mother, wrote: "And then for the picture of the flowers to look exactly as they were on the site was amazing. My mom was thrilled with the beauty of these flowers." Our FAQ is plain about it: very close to the photo, though never identical, because every piece is made by hand.
We do not deliver on Sundays, so a Sunday birthday gets its flowers on Saturday or Monday.
A small room wants a small arrangement
Look at the top of any dresser in a senior apartment. Photographs, a lamp, reading glasses, the television remote, a water glass. Flowers have to squeeze in among all that. Each arrangement's product page shows its size options, so compare them with the space on her dresser before you choose. The smallest size is usually the one. A low, wide shape stays put when she reaches past it for her glasses. Keep it in a bright room with indirect light, out of direct sun and away from the heating vent, as our FAQ suggests for any home. Care instructions come with every delivery, so a visiting son or an aide can top up the water without guessing.
Scent comes down to taste. In a small room, something gentle that she notices when she leans in usually sits well. Color is where you know more than we do. Soft pastels are the easy guess, and plenty of grandmothers have worn red lipstick every day since 1962. If you know her colors, order our Designer's Choice and put the colors in the checkout note.
For a 90th birthday party in the community room, go bigger. The FAQ says a significant birthday almost always calls for one of the larger sizes, and a common room has the table space her bedroom lacks. Send the large one to the party, then something small to her room the following week.
Write the card for the second reading
The card holds up to 300 characters. For an older reader, sign with the name she uses for you and say how you are connected. "Love, Katie, your granddaughter in Ohio" tells her far more than "Love, K."
Then give her one piece of news she can pass along to the person at the next table at lunch. "Sam started kindergarten this week and wants to show you his backpack at Thanksgiving." She will pick that card up again on Thursday and it will still make sense. Grandchildren who want to send flowers to grandma for no reason at all can say exactly that. "No occasion. Thinking about your kitchen and those Sunday biscuits."
When you live far away and visits come months apart, a standing delivery keeps something fresh in her room in between. Our subscriptions run weekly or monthly, and the Classic Subscription is described on the page as "a gift with a beginning and an end," with the dates yours to pick. The form's recipient phone and special instructions fields are where the desk details go. If she has a sweet tooth, a box of Artisan Macarons can come in the same delivery, once the community has said food is fine.
Call the desk first, then pick from the thinking of you arrangements with her dresser in mind for size.
Need flowers there today? See same-day flower delivery in Raleigh.