Send flowers to Melbourne, from the CBD to the bay

Melbourne dresses for its weather, and its flowers follow suit. The city has a temperate oceanic climate with a mean maximum of just over 20 degrees, cool nights for most of the year and the famous four seasons in one day. That is good news for anyone sending flowers to Melbourne: stems last longer here than in the humid north, and a bouquet delivered on a Monday still looks presentable at the weekend. Whether it is going to an apartment in Docklands, a terrace in Fitzroy, a family in Glen Waverley or a patient at The Alfred, a florist in Melbourne arranges it that morning and a driver brings it to the door.

Flower delivery across Melbourne's suburbs

Delivery covers Greater Melbourne. In the inner city that means the CBD, Southbank, Docklands, Carlton, Parkville, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, South Yarra, St Kilda, Albert Park, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond and Abbotsford. North of the Yarra we deliver to Brunswick, Coburg, Northcote, Preston, Reservoir, Bundoora and Epping; east to Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell, Box Hill, Ringwood and Croydon; south-east to Caulfield, Bentleigh, Clayton, Glen Waverley, Oakleigh, Dandenong, Springvale and Frankston; and west to Footscray, Sunshine, St Albans, Altona, Point Cook and Werribee. For the apartment towers of the CBD, Southbank and Docklands, give the apartment number and the recipient's mobile, because the driver cannot get past the lobby without being buzzed in. The same applies to the university colleges around Parkville and to offices with a reception desk: name the company and the floor, and bear in mind that a bouquet arriving late in the afternoon may wait at reception until the next morning.

Same-day flowers in Melbourne: order by 2pm

Same-day delivery runs Monday to Saturday. The cut-off is 2pm on weekdays and 10am on Saturdays, Melbourne time; anything ordered after that goes out on the next working day or on a date you choose. There is no delivery on Sundays. Melbourne keeps daylight saving from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April, so if you are ordering from Brisbane or the Gold Coast in summer, Melbourne is an hour ahead of you: 1pm in Queensland is already 2pm here. From Perth the gap is three hours in summer, so order before 11am Perth time. From overseas, the simplest rule is to place the order the evening before, your time, and pick the delivery date.

Hospital flowers in Melbourne: The Alfred, Royal Melbourne and more

Melbourne's big hospitals sit in a ring around the city. The Alfred is at 55 Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004. The Royal Melbourne Hospital is at 300 Grattan Street, Parkville 3052, and nearby the Royal Women's Hospital and the private Frances Perry House share 20 Flemington Road, Parkville, which is where a large share of Melbourne's new-baby bouquets end up. St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne is at 41 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy 3065. Alfred Health states that some of its wards do not permit flowers or potted plants for patient safety and asks visitors to check with the ward first; intensive care units generally accept none. So phone the ward before you order, give the patient's full name and the ward, and if discharge is a day or two away, send the flowers home instead.

Melbourne Cup, the Flower Show and the other big dates

Melbourne's calendar hands florists two peaks of their own. The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show fills the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens each autumn, next from Wednesday 17 to Sunday 21 March 2027. Then comes the Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington: Cup Day is the first Tuesday in November, 3 November 2026 and 2 November 2027, and a public holiday in Melbourne, so have Cup-week flowers delivered on the Monday rather than the day itself. In spring the Tesselaar Tulip Festival at Silvan in the Dandenong Ranges draws the crowds out of town. Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May, 9 May 2027; because it is a Sunday, bouquets are delivered on Saturday 8 May and the cut-off is 10am. Father's Day is 5 September 2027. Valentine's Day, 14 February, lands in a Melbourne summer that can swing from 20 to 40 degrees in a day, so roses are best sent to a workplace or to a home where someone is in. Anzac Day on 25 April is marked with a sprig of rosemary on the lapel and a wreath at the dawn service, not with a bouquet.

What is in season in Melbourne

Melbourne sits in the middle of Victoria's flower-growing country, and the seasons show in the buckets. Spring (September to November) brings sweet pea, ranunculus, proteas and lisianthus, with the first peonies in November. Summer (December to February) is roses, carnations, gerberas, gladioli, lisianthus, delphiniums and dahlias, and peonies hold on into December. Autumn (March to May) means chrysanthemums, the Mother's Day flower, alongside tulips, iris, proteas and leucadendron. Winter (June to August) is the time for tulips, daffodils, stock, ranunculus and native bunches. Ask for seasonal stems and the florist uses whatever came in freshest that morning.

Funeral flowers in Melbourne: Springvale, Fawkner and the chapels

Melbourne's two largest cemeteries each have a crematorium and chapels on site. Springvale Botanical Cemetery, at 600 Princes Highway, Springvale 3171, dates from 1901 and covers more than 170 hectares of gardens in the south-east. Fawkner Memorial Park, on Sydney Road in the north, opened in 1906, covers 114 hectares and is the largest cemetery in Victoria. Casket sprays, wreaths and sheaves are best arranged two or three days ahead through the funeral director or a florist close to the chapel. Delivery to the service itself is never guaranteed, so always give the family's home as a second address; a sympathy bouquet sent there a week or two later, when the visitors have gone, is often valued more than one more arrangement on the day.

Prices and what is included

Hand-tied bouquets start from AUD 75, with larger arrangements, roses by the dozen and native bunches priced above that. Delivery is charged at checkout and a card with your message comes with every order.

Did you know? Did you know? The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show fills the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens every autumn; the 2027 show runs from 17 to 21 March.