What Flowers to Send Someone Who Is Sick
For someone who is sick, send comforting, low-scent stems already set in a vessel, so nothing has to be trimmed or arranged at a bedside. Adore Flowers composes each one the morning it ships and delivers across Los Angeles the same day on orders before 11 AM, Monday through Saturday.
A get-well arrangement has a job most gifts do not. It has to survive a room nobody is tending, and it has to stay out of the way of the person in the bed. That rules out heavy scent, height, and anything that sheds; the rest of this covers what to send, what to avoid, and how hospital delivery works in Los Angeles.
What are the best flowers for the sick?
Flowers that comfort: bright, sturdy, and gentle on fragrance. Ranunculus, alstroemeria, carnations, hydrangea, and garden roses all hold up in warm, dry indoor air.
Keep the footprint small. A bedside table is already carrying a water jug, a phone, and usually a box of tissues.
Our get well collection starts at $150 and leaves the studio the same day on orders before 11 AM, Monday through Saturday. Every piece arrives in a permanent vessel, so nobody is hunting for a vase in a kitchen they do not live in.
How long will get-well flowers last?
Between five days and three weeks, depending almost entirely on the stem. That range matters more than usual here, because a recovery can run long.
Vase life for the stems we use most in get-well work, with our own note on each for a sick room.
| Stem | Typical vase life | Our note for a sick room |
|---|---|---|
| Hydrangea | Two to four weeks | One head fills a small table without needing height |
| Carnation | Up to three weeks | The longest runner, but fragrant, so we keep the count down |
| Alstroemeria | One to two weeks | Buds keep opening after delivery, which suits a long stay |
| Lily | One to two weeks | We leave it out; the pollen stains and the scent fills a room |
| Freesia | Up to seven days | Strongly scented, so better at home than on a ward |
| Ranunculus | Five to seven days | Our first pick for a bedside, and the softest in color |
| Rose | Four to seven days | Garden roses read warmer than a florist dozen |
Source: vase life figures from the Society of American Florists flower guide. The sick-room notes are our own.
Should get-well flowers be scented?
Keep the scent light. A closed, warm room concentrates fragrance in a way an open kitchen does not, and the person in it cannot walk away from it.
Freesia is the clearest case: the Society of American Florists describes freesias as strongly scented. Lovely on a hallway table, heavy at a bedside.
Which flowers should you avoid in a sick room?
Lilies, first and last. They are heavily perfumed in an enclosed space, and their pollen stains petals, sheets, and clothing on contact.
The Society of American Florists advises removing the stamens for exactly that reason. In six years I have never sent a lily to a hospital, and I have twice been asked to replace someone else's.
Can you send flowers to a hospital in Los Angeles?
Often, but the unit decides, not the hospital. Keck Hospital of USC publishes that visitors may not bring fresh flowers into its CCU, IMCU or NICU.
Intensive care is the most common restriction, with oncology and transplant units close behind. Call the unit the patient is actually in before you order.
If the answer is no, send to the family's home, or time the delivery for discharge day. Our hospital delivery guide covers the details a hospital order needs.
Do flowers help someone who is unwell?
They are not treatment, and the effect that has been measured is on mood. In a six-month Rutgers study of 104 older adults reported by the Society of American Florists, 81 percent reported a reduction in depression after receiving flowers.
Forty percent said they broadened their social contacts. For someone stuck in one room for a fortnight, that is the useful part.
What should you write on a get-well card?
Short, warm, and no prognosis. Say you are thinking of them, and say when you will call.
Every Adore order includes a hand-written note rather than a printed card. Add your own phone number in the delivery notes too, so any question comes to you and not to the patient.
Where do you deliver get-well flowers in Los Angeles?
Across the city from our Downtown studio, seven days ahead or the same afternoon. Same-day orders arrive in the guaranteed 1 to 5 PM window.
That includes Westwood in 90024, around UCLA, and Santa Monica across 90401 through 90405. Coverage, windows, and fees are on the delivery page.
Related reading
See delivering flowers to a hospital in LA, whether flowers or a plant make the better gift, and how long delivered flowers last.
Common questions