Who are the valentines day flowers winners?

We reviewed 11 online florists ahead of Valentines Day so you don't have to. You will find each detailed review on the right menu, and the summary below.

Overall the standard was very high, but there were significant differences between the best performer and the worst. If you are sending flowers for valentines day my view is any of the top 6 on this list will delight your valentine

 

	Website & Ordering	Delivery	Romance & WOW factor	Overall
	The best we found. Excellent photographs	Great attention to detail	Classy and beautifully arranged	A truly delightful experience
	Quick and easy to use	Arrived on time and safely. Well packaged.	Great presentation	The best choice for roses.
	Wide choice, easy to use and great photos	Couldn't be bettered	Great looking flowers, just as promised	Sending flowers online as it should be
	Great website, photography and description	Well packaged, good printed gift card and delivered on time	Great bouquet with good mix of blooms all working well together	Anyone would be thrilled to receive a valentines bunch from Clare
	Fast, easy to use. Minor problem with typing gift message	Great packing, delivered on time	Beautiful roses, excellent condition	Your beloved will not be disappointed
	Unusual colours and interesting range.	Arrived safely, and the tissue paper was a great touch	Excellent impact, a valentines hit!	Overall a very positive transaction
	Worked well, but did not inspire	Missed delivery date, but kept me updated	Delightful bouquet	The flowers were the best part of the transaction
	Adequate, but did not excel	Good same day service	Ordinary, plain, uninspiring	Only let down where it really counts - with the flowers
	More descriptions would be appreciated	Well protected and delivered on time	Not the 'ultimate' which was described	Average service and flowers
	Limited photographs and descriptions	Packaging could be improved and flowers delivered with no water or moisture container	Might not have the romantic effect you were hoping for	A bad experience all round

Overall thoughts on the valentines day flower reviews

Overall the standard was very high, but there were significant differences between the best performer and the worst. If you are sending flowers for valentines day my view is any of the top 6 on this list will delight your valentine

One thing I was looking out for was how the picture on the website compared to the actual bunch of flowers that were delivered. Many of the websites photography was outstanding, but that could lead to disappointment if what turned up at the door was very different. Happily that did not turn to be an issue, as the quantity and mix of flowers was very accurate to the original photo.

Most florists still have to use external delivery companies. This is the part where they really lose control and have to trust in a good courier, however good packing is essential. There seems to be quite a bit of innovation in the packing available, with several utilising inner packing to give additional protection. Out of the 11 flower orders, 4 were received with some level of damage to the packaging, and of these 2 resulted in damaged flowers. On both of these, there was no inner packaging.

Most of the flower bunches were packaged with some kind of water retaining device. Clearly it is not practical to package directly with water as I am sure couriers would object to this. Those that were 'hand-delivered' from the local florist did come with a water bubble. Only one bunch was sent with no water or moisture container.

One area of weakness for me that nobody did well in was the gift card. Even though many now print them, there is still little creativity in the design. When you receive a bunch of flowers and you read the gift card, you are picturing the person which sent you the flowers as you read it. Some of the cards very really plain or just awful.

I was particularly impressed with the florists that control the whole flower selection and dispatch themselves, rather than 'relay' to a local florist near you to then deliver. There were two relay operations that we knew of in this test, one did well while the other was poor.

Whatever you choose to do this valentines day, don't forget the most important thing, tell them that you care! Enjoy your Valentines Day.