any alternatives to Interflora?

[puffling]

Would like to send sisiter some lovely flowers when she has her baby, perhaps something a bit different. She's in Guildford. Interflora's great, but are there alternatives?

Tesco direct, M&S online

Iflorist or Flowers Direct

When DS2 was born DH's work sent me the most beautiful flowers fromserenata flowers
There was roses and thistles and those big african daisy things. Was stunning and lasted ages.
I'm guessing they were expensive.

john lewis etc?
Or look for local posh florists on yell and call them to see if they deliver?

Loads on line if you Google

I've sent flowers by looking up a florist in the relevant city on the internet, calling them and ordering over the phone, paying by credit card. Obviously, you don't get to see the bouquet, but that way you're going direct to the shop, with no intermediaries.

crocus are excellent

but may I suggest not sending flowers to a new mum - send a tin of cakes or some baby clotjes but not flowers that need attention, trimming, vases etc and then die anyway.

M&S - I've used them loads and always been really pleased. They do a bouquet of the month which is often really lovely and a bit different, I think June's is gorgeous for example - although it will be no good if you sis has a boy!

Or how about a boquet of baby clothes from Flowerstork?

bouquet

Ring local florist (yellow pages) - better and cheaper .

Better still send these.

The flowerstork things look pretty but take ages to unwrap (each sock is encased in metres of crepe paper and wire). So depends how patient your sister is

my friend sent me some BEAUTIFUL multi coloured Tulips, from NEXt. Yes, next i say. I promise you they were really stylish, understated, joyous simplicity. they were my favourite baby present

Brilliant ideas here - thanks

just a word of advice......

some florists will advise a handtied which comes in a bubble of water. These are fine like this for a couple of days but they do need to be removed from the packaging after that and transferred to a vase otherwise the flowers life will be drastically reduced.

not everyone is aware of that and it's such a shame to spend so much and then the flowers die.

(10 years in the trade so speaking from experience)

I'm Editor of the trade magazine for florists, Florist and Wholesale Buyer (nifty title huh!) Bottom line is that you will get far better value and service if you go to a local florist. But please make sure it's a real shop, not a call centre hiding behind a local address or phone number because there are a lot of rogue sites out there.

To solve the problem - and admin please don't cross at me for blatant advertising - we set up www.masterflorist.com which lists, for free, all the real shops in the UK plus some ideas for designs.

You can't buy on line unless you go to the florists site, and unlike Interflora etc we take no cut of the order, but you can speak directly to the florist who will make the gift. Tell them Carrie sent you. If it's good tell them, if it's not tell me!
Carrie Marshall - Foster

I use Arena flowers.