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A bouquet sent for Christmas has a short run. When Which? kept eight delivered bouquets for a week in 2021, the worst were mostly ready for the compost by the end of it and the best were still good after seven days, so flowers that land on 22 December are often finished by New Year's Eve. A Christmas plant runs the other way: an amaryllis is only getting going on Christmas Day, and a Christmas cactus can flower again every winter for years. The catch is that plants are fussier about the cold, about cats and dogs, and about when they turn up, and that's most of what this guide is about.
What are Christmas flowers and Christmas plants?
Christmas flowers are cut-flower bouquets made for the season: red roses and carnations, white alstroemeria, eucalyptus, pine, berries and cones, sent as a hand-tied bunch, a slim letterbox box or a door wreath. Christmas plants are living plants in pots, timed to flower or colour in December: the poinsettia, the amaryllis, the Christmas cactus, hyacinths and paperwhites grown to flower early, the Christmas rose, and small living trees. A bouquet gives a week of colour. A plant can give a month, or years.
Why does everyone look for them in December?
Because they're part of how a lot of people do Christmas. In the UK, "christmas flowers" is searched about 8,100 times a month and "christmas plants" about 6,600, while "poinsettia" gets 27,100 and "christmas cactus" 12,100 (Google Keyword Planner, monthly averages, October 2026). Garden centres feel it too: the Horticultural Trades Association's 2024 retail figures put 13% of their whole year's indoor plant sales in December, and the same survey found 4.9 million households bought a real Christmas tree in 2024.
Why does it matter which one you send?
Because the money lasts a different length of time, and each goes wrong in its own way. A Christmas bouquet costs from about £30 delivered in October 2026 and lasts about a week. A gift plant costs £14 to £40 plus delivery and can carry on into January or well beyond. Against that, poinsettias are damaged by cold, several festive bouquets are built on lilies that are dangerous to cats, and the nurseries with the nicest plants quote delivery in weeks rather than days.
The short answer: For flowers, BunchesBunches.co.ukThis is Bunches, a family-owned flower business from Mansfield that has sent bouquets by post since 1990. You can choose letterbox flowers, hand tied bouquets, plants, hampers and 2 current offers · View store → has the cheapest lily-free Christmas bouquets I found, from £24.95 plus £4.99 delivery in October 2026, with a 14-day guarantee on its carnation designs. For a plant that flowers over Christmas with no care at all, a waxed amaryllis from
HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store → (£27 to £34), ordered by mid-November. For a poinsettia on a chosen day,
Blossoming GiftsBlossoming Flowers and GiftsBlossoming Flowers and Gifts is a gift retailer covering flowers, hampers, wines and personalised presents. It suits shoppers who want a single site for a bouquet, a food-and-drink2 current offers · View store → at £19.99, delivering from 1 December. For a plant that lasts for years and is listed as safe for cats and dogs, a Christmas cactus from
PricklePrickleThis is Prickle, an indoor plant shop that grows plants in its own greenhouses. It sells house plants from large statement pieces to small Lil' Pricks, plus pots, tools and accessoBuying guide · View store → at £14. Everything we list is in our plants and flowers collections with today's prices.
Flowers or a plant: which suits who?
The table sets the main options side by side, with prices from the sellers' own sites on 14 October 2026.
| What | How long it lasts | From | Delivery | Cats and dogs | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas bouquet | About a week; Bunches guarantees carnations for 14 days | £24.95 + £4.99 at | Bunches says 93% arrive the next working day | Lily-free designs exist; lilies are dangerous to cats | Anyone who loves a vase of flowers |
| Letterbox Christmas flowers | About a week once in water | £25.25 + £4.99 at | Through the door, so nobody has to be in | As above | Someone who's often out |
| Waxed amaryllis | Flowers four to six weeks after it arrives | £27 + £5.95 at | Dates can move by up to 14 days either way | Harmful if eaten | Someone who won't water anything |
| Hyacinths or paperwhites | About two weeks in flower, paperwhites up to three | £21 + £5.95 at | As above | Harmful if eaten, bulbs most of all | People who love scent |
| Poinsettia | Colour through December and January, months with care | £19.99 + £5.99 at | A chosen day from 1 December | Mild irritant | A traditional look |
| Christmas cactus | Flowers again every winter for years | £14 + £4.99 at | Dispatched within two working days | Listed as non-toxic | Pet owners, and anyone who keeps plants |
| Living Christmas tree | 12 days indoors, then the garden | £40 + £5.95 at | As Hayloft above | Needles can irritate | Someone with a garden or a front step |
Which Christmas plants last longest?
Most plants sold for Christmas are flowering bulbs or tender houseplants brought into colour for December, and they differ a lot in how long they keep going and how much they ask of the person who gets them. They're in order here from least effort to most. Several of our garden and DIY stores sell them, though only a few have Christmas plants in our catalogue.
Amaryllis: the one that needs nothing from them
An amaryllis is a big tropical bulb (Hippeastrum) that sends up a thick stalk of trumpet flowers, and the RHS calls it a popular Christmas gift. A bare bulb takes six to ten weeks to flower from planting, by the RHS's two guides, so one unwrapped on Christmas Day flowers in February. A waxed amaryllis gets round that: the bulb is sealed in wax with everything it needs stored inside, so it wants no soil or water, only a bright spot away from direct heat, as Iowa State University's extension service explains. HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store → says its flowers open after around four to six weeks in a moderately heated room.
That timing is the whole decision. A waxed bulb in the house by mid-November should be flowering for Christmas; one that lands on 20 December flowers in January. It's also usually a one-season plant, which Iowa State says is generally not worth saving, whereas an unwaxed bulb can flower year after year. The US gardening channel Garden Answer grew five waxed bulbs without a drop of water: all five flowered, and one grew so tall it kept toppling over.
Hayloft has the widest range I found, in October 2026: the white-waxed Waxed Amaryllis with Reindeer with a red flower (£27), the Monumental Amaryllis in gold wax with double red flowers, boxed ready for wrapping (£34), the Botanical Waxed Amaryllis with white flowers (three for £48), and the Merry and Bright collection of three unwaxed bulbs to pot up (£30). For a later order, CrocusCrocusCrocus is a UK online garden centre selling live plants alongside tools and garden furniture, from spring bulbs and perennials to trees and hedging. Its most useful feature for buyBuying guide · View store → sells an amaryllis already potted and in bud for £14.99, with named-day delivery at £8.99.
Waxed and potted amaryllis from Hayloft
Hyacinths and paperwhites: scent for the whole room
Hyacinths and paperwhites, a small daffodil with clusters of white flowers, are spring bulbs prepared by growers to flower indoors at Christmas, and the scent is the point of both. Forced hyacinths flower for about two weeks and paperwhites for two to three, according to Washington State and Illinois extension services, and Illinois notes that some people detest the paperwhite scent. Hyacinths can go in the garden once the leaves die down and flower again the next spring, says the RHS.
HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store → sends both ready-planted: a hyacinth in a handwoven basket topped with moss and wound with fairy lights (£22, or £42 for three colours), three hyacinths in robin-printed pots (£28), and five paperwhites in a snowflake pot (£21), in October 2026.
YouGardenYouGarden.comYouGarden.com sells plants for growing your own fruit, vegetables and flowers, with the stock delivered to your door. It suits anyone who wants to build a productive garden or a fl6 current offers · View store →'s wicker basket of five hyacinths (£22.99) comes as loose bulbs and compost for the recipient to plant.
Hyacinths and paperwhites, ready planted
Poinsettia: the classic, and the one that hates the cold
What looks like a big red flower on a poinsettia is a ring of coloured leaves called bracts. The RHS says it needs at least 13 to 16°C and that cold is the most common way it's ruined: plants chilled on a pavement display or in a draughty shop doorway drop leaves and bracts within days, and nothing reverses it. UConn's horticulturists put chilling damage below 10°C, worse the longer it lasts, and add that one left too long in its sleeve can droop as if it's dying, though it usually recovers in a couple of days.
So a delivery day when someone is in matters more for a poinsettia than for anything else here. Looked after, it holds its colour through December and January, for several months according to Illinois Extension, but getting it to colour again next year takes weeks of long, dark nights from late September, so most people treat it, as the RHS puts it, like a bunch of flowers. BBC Gardeners' World Magazine's Oliver Parsons runs through why they die so quickly after Christmas.
Blossoming GiftsBlossoming Flowers and GiftsBlossoming Flowers and Gifts is a gift retailer covering flowers, hampers, wines and personalised presents. It suits shoppers who want a single site for a bouquet, a food-and-drink2 current offers · View store → sends a poinsettia in a 13cm pot with a velvet pot cover for £19.99 in October 2026, on a delivery day you pick from 1 December, with a free card. Its couriers don't reach parts of the Highlands, the islands or Aberdeen.
PricklePrickleThis is Prickle, an indoor plant shop that grows plants in its own greenhouses. It sells house plants from large statement pieces to small Lil' Pricks, plus pots, tools and accessoBuying guide · View store → lists poinsettias in five colours, but all five were marked sold out when I checked on 14 October.
A poinsettia on the day you choose
Christmas cactus: the one that flowers again every winter
A Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera) is a rainforest plant with flat, jointed stems and bright tubular flowers at their tips. A cool autumn and shorter days set its buds, so one kept in a cool room in autumn usually flowers again the next Christmas, and the RHS says it can be very long lived. Many sold under the name are really the Thanksgiving cactus, with pointed teeth on the stem segments rather than scallops, as NC State Extension shows, which mostly means flowers a few weeks earlier. On r/HouseplantsUK, one poster shared a grandmother's Christmas cactus she reckons is at least 50 years old.
It's also the one plant here listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs by the ASPCA, Cats Protection and Animal PoisonLine, which makes it my default for a house with pets. PricklePrickleThis is Prickle, an indoor plant shop that grows plants in its own greenhouses. It sells house plants from large statement pieces to small Lil' Pricks, plus pots, tools and accessoBuying guide · View store →, a houseplant shop, sells red, pink and white ones at £14 (20 to 30cm, in a plain nursery pot; October 2026), with free delivery over £50.
HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store →'s Cascading Christmas Cactus comes in a white and gold tin pail for £20, and
CrocusCrocusCrocus is a UK online garden centre selling live plants alongside tools and garden furniture, from spring bulbs and perennials to trees and hedging. Its most useful feature for buyBuying guide · View store → sells them in brass, white or green pots from £22.98.
Christmas cacti
For a gardener: plants that go outside after Christmas
Some Christmas plants are garden plants dressed up for the season. The Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) is a hardy perennial with white flowers from midwinter that the RHS suggests growing in a container in a sheltered spot, and HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store → sends 'Christmas Carol' in a red pot cover or a white wooden barrel (£20 each, October 2026). Its bush azaleas arrive in bud in a concrete pot (£24) and, Hayloft says, live outside after Christmas, unlike the indoor azaleas the RHS rates as difficult. Sweet box, or Christmas box, is a shrub whose tiny winter flowers scent a doorway, by the RHS account; Hayloft's 'Winter Gem' is £16 in a 9cm pot. Two indoor plants complete the grid: a scented Stephanotis trained on a hoop (£27) and a Gin & Tonic Plant (£19) whose leaves, Hayloft says, smell of the drink when brushed.
Christmas gifts for a gardener
A living Christmas tree for the step or the garden
A pot-grown tree can come indoors for Christmas, but the RHS says for no more than 12 days, in a cool room away from radiators, and warns that one kept in a pot for good may only live a few years. The British Christmas Tree Growers Association says trees raised in their pots, rather than dug up and potted, can be planted out with a very good chance of success. HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store →'s Doorstep Picea Glauca is a dwarf white spruce in a 5-litre pot with a hessian bag, battery lights and baubles (£40 in October 2026) that Hayloft says is happier outside, and its noble fir (£24) eventually reaches 12m, so it's for a big garden.
YouGardenYouGarden.comYouGarden.com sells plants for growing your own fruit, vegetables and flowers, with the stock delivered to your door. It suits anyone who wants to build a productive garden or a fl6 current offers · View store → has a pot-grown Nordmann fir, the tree behind about 75% of UK Christmas tree sales by the BCTGA's estimate, at 70 to 100cm for £39.99.
Living trees from Hayloft
Which Christmas flowers are worth sending?
Cut flowers still get the most searches, and their weak spot is how long they last, which is why a florist's guarantee says more than its photos. These are the florists with Christmas ranges live in October 2026.
For a bouquet, I'd start with BunchesBunches.co.ukThis is Bunches, a family-owned flower business from Mansfield that has sent bouquets by post since 1990. You can choose letterbox flowers, hand tied bouquets, plants, hampers and 2 current offers · View store →. Its Christmas Cheer is 13 red and white carnations with gypsophila for £24.95, and Bunches guarantees its carnation bouquets for 14 days rather than its usual seven. Winter Night (£27.95) swaps the red for white alstroemeria, eucalyptus and blue thistle, and Christmas Rose & Freesia (£34.95) has red roses, white freesia and berries. Delivery is £4.99 by Royal Mail Tracked 24 for weekday orders placed by 5.15pm, including to the Highlands and Islands and Northern Ireland. Bunches scores 4.4 on Trustpilot from 18,430 reviews (14 October 2026). The one to skip for a house with a cat is Christmas Rose & Lily, which has three red lilies.
For something bigger, Flowers & Plants Co.Flowers & Plants Co.Flowers & Plants Co. is a London florist with a clear split between speed and style. Same-day delivery covers London postcodes and next-day delivery reaches mainland UK addresses, Buying guide · View store →, an independent London florist, makes Christmas bouquets with pine cones, cinnamon, dried citrus and berries, from £39.99 to £54.99 for the regular size, with next-day delivery across the UK and same-day in London. It's a small business with a thin Trustpilot record, 2.8 from 140 reviews, which I'd weigh before sending one far from London.
Appleyard FlowersAppleyard FlowersAppleyard London is a boutique florist that sells hand-tied bouquets, plants, hampers and gift sets for delivery across the UK. Its range leans towards seasonal blooms and occasion2 current offers · View store → has the biggest Christmas range I found, delivering bouquets from 1 December and taking orders for Christmas Eve until 23 December, with 4.5 on Trustpilot from 12,836 reviews. Many of its designs are built on lilies, and its own pages warn cat owners about them.
Christmas bouquets
Letterbox Christmas flowers
When nobody will be in, a letterbox box is the safer bet, and our guide to letterbox flowers covers how they arrive and whether they'll fit the door. BunchesBunches.co.ukThis is Bunches, a family-owned flower business from Mansfield that has sent bouquets by post since 1990. You can choose letterbox flowers, hand tied bouquets, plants, hampers and 2 current offers · View store → sends Christmas Cheer as a letterbox (£25.25), along with Happy Christmas (£28.75, with a "Merry Christmas" pick) and the all-white Winter Wisp (£31.95), all in plastic-free packaging.
The BlossomistThe BlossomistThe Blossomist sells hand-tied bouquets, letterbox flowers and subscriptions, with delivery across the UK and next-day options for London. Its delivery costs, cut-off times and refBuying guide · View store → builds its Christmas letterbox flowers around real pine and eucalyptus (from £27) and writes every card by hand; it delivers them from 2 December and asks for orders by 22 December. Bloom & Wild, which isn't one of the shops I link to, has Christmas letterbox flowers from £29.
Christmas letterbox flowers
Wreaths: fresh pine or one to keep
A fresh wreath is the only Christmas flower that lives outside. Flowers & Plants Co.Flowers & Plants Co.Flowers & Plants Co. is a London florist with a clear split between speed and style. Same-day delivery covers London postcodes and next-day delivery reaches mainland UK addresses, Buying guide · View store →'s Red Xmas Wreath of mixed pine, rose hips and ilex berries is £34.99, and its Classic Xmas, with cinnamon sticks, cones and dried lime, is £49.99.
Appleyard FlowersAppleyard FlowersAppleyard London is a boutique florist that sells hand-tied bouquets, plants, hampers and gift sets for delivery across the UK. Its range leans towards seasonal blooms and occasion2 current offers · View store →' real-pine Mulled Wine Wreath starts at £59.99 and delivers from 20 November.
BunchesBunches.co.ukThis is Bunches, a family-owned flower business from Mansfield that has sent bouquets by post since 1990. You can choose letterbox flowers, hand tied bouquets, plants, hampers and 2 current offers · View store →' wreaths are artificial, from £23.75 for the 30cm Festive Woodland, so they come back out next year, and it sells a box of Christmas foliage and berries (£36) for someone who'd rather make their own.
Wreaths and foliage
Are Christmas plants and flowers safe with cats and dogs?
Very few are completely safe, and the one that's a real danger is the lily. Every part of a lily is poisonous to cats, pollen and vase water included: International Cat Care says a cat can be poisoned by grooming pollen off its fur, that eating less than one leaf can cause fatal kidney failure, and that "pollen-free" lilies aren't safe either. Several Christmas bouquets are built on them, so a lily-free design is the kind choice for anyone with a cat. Florists on r/florists make the point that they won't know about the cat unless the person ordering tells them.
The rest are mostly a risk of an upset stomach, though amaryllis and bulbs can be worse. This is how the UK animal charities and the ASPCA rate them.
| Plant | Cats and dogs | Who says so |
|---|---|---|
| Lilies | Dangerous to cats: every part, pollen and vase water | International Cat Care |
| Poinsettia | Mild: sap irritates the mouth and stomach | Blue Cross, PDSA |
| Amaryllis | Harmful: vomiting, drooling, tremors; the bulb is worst | PDSA, ASPCA |
| Hyacinths, paperwhites | Harmful if eaten; bulbs most of all | HTA, ASPCA |
| Christmas rose, azalea, holly, mistletoe, ivy | Harmful if eaten | HTA, PDSA |
| Christmas cactus | Listed as non-toxic | ASPCA, Cats Protection |
| Real Christmas trees | Not highly toxic; needles can irritate or injure | Blue Cross |
If a pet may have eaten something, Animal PoisonLine, run by the Veterinary Poisons Information Service, answers 24 hours a day on 01202 509 000, for a fee (£35 on weekday daytimes in October 2026). A pet that's collapsing, fitting or struggling to breathe needs a vet straight away.
When should you order for Christmas?
Earlier for a plant than for a bouquet, because the people growing the plants work to longer timetables than florists do. One quick question first, about who you're sending to this year. I'll share what readers pick here once enough people have answered.
Royal Mail has published its last recommended posting dates for Christmas 2026, which apply to anything a florist posts, and a few sellers have published their own.
| Service or seller | Christmas deliveries | Last order |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Mail 2nd Class | Friday 18 December | |
| Royal Mail Tracked 48 | Saturday 19 December | |
| Royal Mail 1st Class and Tracked 24 | Monday 21 December | |
| Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed | Wednesday 23 December | |
| Bouquets from 1 December, wreaths from 20 November | 23 December, for Christmas Eve | |
| From 2 December | 22 December | |
| Christmas plants from 1 December, on a chosen day | Not published yet | |
| Next working day by Tracked 24 | Not published yet | |
| Aims to despatch within 28 days; dates can move 14 days either way | Not published; I'd order by mid-November |
Royal Mail says its dates can change. HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store →'s terms are the ones to plan around: its delivery page says dates can move by up to 14 days either side of the one given, and its FAQ says it aims to despatch within 28 days. With an amaryllis's four to six weeks to flower on top, that makes Hayloft a November order.
CrocusCrocusCrocus is a UK online garden centre selling live plants alongside tools and garden furniture, from spring bulbs and perennials to trees and hedging. Its most useful feature for buyBuying guide · View store → offers named-day delivery for £8.99;
YouGardenYouGarden.comYouGarden.com sells plants for growing your own fruit, vegetables and flowers, with the stock delivered to your door. It suits anyone who wants to build a productive garden or a fl6 current offers · View store → doesn't.
What if it arrives dead, or late?
Flowers and plants bought online don't carry the usual 14-day change-of-mind right, because the Consumer Contracts Regulations exclude goods that deteriorate quickly. They still have to be of satisfactory quality, and because goods stay at the seller's risk until they're delivered, the complaint goes to the shop rather than the courier, made by whoever paid. If you told the shop before ordering that the date was essential and it misses it, the Consumer Rights Act lets you end the contract and get your money back.
Questions people ask
What are the best Christmas plants to give?
For most people, an amaryllis or a Christmas cactus. A waxed amaryllis needs no care and flowers over Christmas if it arrives by mid-November, and a Christmas cactus flowers again every winter and is listed as safe for cats and dogs. Poinsettias look the part but suffer in cold deliveries.
How long do Christmas flowers last?
About a week. In a 2021 Which? test, delivered bouquets ranged from mostly finished within the week to still good after seven days, and Bunches guarantees its carnation bouquets for 14 days.
Is a poinsettia poisonous to cats and dogs?
Only mildly. Blue Cross says poinsettia poisoning is mild, usually drooling, vomiting or a sore mouth from the sap, and the ASPCA calls its toxicity over-rated. Lilies are the Christmas flower to keep well away from cats.
Does a waxed amaryllis need water?
No. The bulb holds the water and food it needs inside the wax, so it only needs a bright spot away from direct heat, and Hayloft says the flowers open after around four to six weeks.
When is the last day to order Christmas flowers?
It depends on the florist. Appleyard takes orders for Christmas Eve until 23 December and The Blossomist asks for orders by 22 December, while Royal Mail's last recommended date for Tracked 24 is Monday 21 December 2026. Plants from a nursery need ordering weeks earlier.
Where I'd start
If they love a vase of flowers, a lily-free bouquet from BunchesBunches.co.ukThis is Bunches, a family-owned flower business from Mansfield that has sent bouquets by post since 1990. You can choose letterbox flowers, hand tied bouquets, plants, hampers and 2 current offers · View store → in the week before Christmas. If you'd like something still going in January, a waxed amaryllis or a hyacinth basket from
HayloftHayloft PlantsHayloft Plants sells garden plants alongside gardening accessories, and shoppers buy from it online. If you are filling borders, pots or a patio, it is a sensible place to compare 2 current offers · View store →, ordered in November. For a house with a cat, a Christmas cactus from
PricklePrickleThis is Prickle, an indoor plant shop that grows plants in its own greenhouses. It sells house plants from large statement pieces to small Lil' Pricks, plus pots, tools and accessoBuying guide · View store →. Everything above is in our plants and flowers collections. For someone who'd enjoy flowers well past Christmas, a flower subscription keeps them coming; for someone you won't see this year, our thinking-of-you gifts go with a note; and for whoever puts you up over Christmas, there are thank-you gifts that say it properly.






































