Flowers come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors, and each holds a deep meaning. Which flower is best to express love? How about condolences? What about celebration?

Sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly what flower you should opt for, so we’ve put together a list of things to consider along with some ideas of the right flowers for every occasion below.

Valentine’s Day

February the 14th is perhaps among the days when almost everybody scurries around to find beautiful flowers for their loved ones. There are plenty of flowers that signify love and affection, and the most popular choice is to gift roses. Arrange them in a nice bouquet and send it to your significant other to make them feel loved, or choose from an assortment of red carnations, orchids, ruby tulips, and marigold.

If you’d like to set yourself apart, get creative by mixing in various flowers or skip the roses altogether and go for a large bouquet of whatever is his or her favorite flower. For instance, roses don’t do much for me, but you’d steal my heart every time if you gave me peonies!

Flowers for Birthdays

Almost any flower could work for Birthday events. Employ the services of your nearest florist to help you find the flower that signifies the birth month or the zodiac sign of your friend.

Bright yellow flowers are perfect for celebrations. Tulips, dandelions and sunflowers are ideal choices for birthdays.  

Funerals

Sorrowful events are hard on people, so it’s usually advised to select light colored flowers, especially those with a white hue to express your sympathy. The white color represents peace and signifies you stand with the family of the deceased in their hard time.

Consider lilies, orchids, chrysanthemums, or a large bunch of white roses to show love, respect and peace.

Wedding Flowers

Weddings are precious events that exude an aura of happiness and companionship. Buy flowers that the bride and groom prefer, or you can choose flowers considering the theme of the wedding.

For a conventional styled wedding, you can never go wrong with white and red colored roses. Contemporary themed weddings have a trend of being adorned with bright colored flowers, so you can choose some bold blue tulips, daisies or orchids. 

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

These two days give you a chance to show your appreciation, affection and respect to your parents. Pleasant and light colors are sure to make your mother happy, so surprise her with freshly plucked flowers like daffodils, tulips, roses and sunflowers on this Mother’s Day. Something rustic with a “fresh picked” vibe would be ideal.

Selecting flowers for your father is a bit tricky. You could go with bright and bold colors like red, blue, orange, or yellow to denote power and masculinity. If you think flowers would go unappreciated, why not give a tree or leafy green plant instead?   

Birth of a Baby

The usual choice is pink for girls and blue for boys, but if you want to spice things up a bit, opt for something like purple and white flowers for a baby girl and red for a boy. You could also go with a non-gender specific flower basket in yellow or all white. 

Carnations are also a popular choice for babies, with their soft, ruffled appearance and delicate perfume as are sweet white or yellow daisies. Personally, I also like to send something practical alongside flowers, like a fun diaper cake!