Choosing birthday flowers in Chicago gets much easier once you stop trying to find the bouquet that looks the most “birthday-ish.”
Think about the person instead. Maybe your sister buys herself tulips every spring. Your friend has a thing for anything yellow. Your mom would choose pink roses every single time, no matter how many other flowers you showed her. Those little preferences are usually a better place to start than any birthday rule.
There are still plenty of traditions worth knowing, from birth flowers to some surprisingly specific Victorian flower meanings. Here are a few blooms to consider, plus birthday bouquets our Chicago florists can deliver around the city.
What Flowers Are Perfect for a Birthday?
Birth flowers are one way to choose, but you certainly don’t have to follow the calendar. May has lily of the valley, June has roses, November has chrysanthemums, and every other month has its own flower or two.
You can also choose by color, season, or simply what the person likes. When you’re choosing birthday flowers in Chicago, these six blooms give you plenty to work with.
Roses: Plenty of Choice Beyond Red
June birthdays have an easy starting point: the rose is the month’s birth flower.
For everyone else, color makes roses surprisingly versatile. Pink works well if you know they love softer shades. Orange roses are much brighter. Yellow roses have become closely associated with friendship, which makes them an easy choice for a friend’s birthday.
That last one wasn’t always so straightforward. Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers gave the yellow rose the rather gloomy meanings of “decrease of love” and “jealousy.” Fortunately, nobody needs to bring Victorian relationship problems to a birthday party.
If roses are already their favorite, browse our rose bouquets in Chicago and start with the color they’d choose for themselves.
Sunflowers: An Easy Pick for Summer Birthdays
The Victorians were oddly particular about sunflowers.
Greenaway associated the dwarf sunflower with “adoration,” while a tall sunflower meant “haughtiness.” We wouldn’t read too much into stem height today.
What does matter is their season. Sunflowers are especially fitting for summer and early fall birthdays, when they’re naturally at home in bright mixed arrangements. Their large yellow heads also give you plenty of color without needing a complicated bouquet.
If their birthday falls in July, August, or September, they’re worth checking for.
Tulips: A Spring Birthday Favorite Flowers
Tulips don’t stay perfectly upright in a vase. They continue to grow after they’re cut, and over the next few days the stems can lean and curve in different directions.
That’s part of their appeal.
They’re also strongly tied to spring, with the best selection typically appearing from late winter through spring. So if you’re shopping for someone whose birthday falls around that time of year, tulips give you a seasonal option that feels different from the usual roses.
There is a historical birthday connection, too. Victorian flower language gave the tulip the meaning “fame,” which isn’t a bad message for the one day of the year that’s entirely theirs.
When they’re available, you can see what’s in season in our tulip collection.
Ranunculus: Lots of Petals, Without a Huge Bloom
Ranunculus looks intricate even before you know anything about it. Each flower has layer after layer of thin petals packed closely around the center, so a simple bunch can have plenty of texture without needing lots of different varieties.
Victorian flower language gave ranunculus one of its nicer compliments: “You are radiant with charms.”
You could borrow that for the card if it sounds like something you’d actually say. If not, the flowers work perfectly well without the nineteenth-century commentary.
Ranunculus is generally at its best during the cooler months and spring, so availability will depend on the birthday date.
Peonies: Worth Watching for in Late Spring
If their birthday happens to land during peony season, you have a fairly short window to work with.
Peonies are usually available around late April through mid-June, although exact timing varies. They often arrive as compact buds and then open considerably over the next day or two, revealing the layers of petals they’re known for.
Florists sometimes call the ideal cutting point the “marshmallow stage,” because the bud should give slightly when gently pressed. It’s a very practical term for one of the prettiest flowers around.
For May and June birthdays, check our peonies in Chicago to see what’s available for the date you need.
Lily of the Valley: A May Birthday with a French Connection
Lily of the valley is May’s birth flower, but its French history makes it especially interesting for Ode à la Rose.
Every May 1, people in France traditionally give sprigs of muguet, or lily of the valley, to friends and family for good luck. The custom is often linked to King Charles IX, who was said to have received the flower as a lucky gift in the sixteenth century and later gave it to women at his court.
Greenaway’s Victorian meaning was “return of happiness.”
The flowers themselves are tiny white bells with a noticeable fragrance. One practical note if you’re considering them for the home: every part of lily of the valley is toxic if ingested, so it’s not a good choice around curious pets or small children.
How to Order Birthday Flowers in Chicago from Ode à la Rose
Once you know roughly what you’re looking for, ordering birthday flowers in Chicago is straightforward.
Our Chicago atelier prepares bouquets locally, with florists arranging and hand-tying them in the French round style before delivery. Same-day delivery is available in Chicago, with available dates and delivery windows shown when you enter the destination ZIP code.
Choose the bouquet first, then add the delivery details. You can include a vase when available, something sweet, or a note for the birthday card. The price and delivery charge appear before checkout.
If you still haven’t settled on a bouquet, color can narrow things down quickly. Think about what they normally wear, what they have around their home, or which flowers they’ve bought for themselves before. Here are a few birthday flowers in Chicago to consider.
Lilou
Lilou is mostly yellow and white, with yellow roses, spray roses, tulips, daisy asters, solidago, and greenery.
It’s a useful option when you want plenty of color but don’t know their favorite flower. The roses bring a fuller shape, while the tulips and asters keep the arrangement mixed rather than formal.
Lilou comes in 22 or 32 stems.
Felice
Some people have very consistent taste. If their closet, apartment, and phone case all seem to land somewhere around blush pink, Felice makes sense.
It combines white and pink Mondial roses with pink alstroemeria, lisianthus, veronica, and eucalyptus. There are enough different flowers to give it texture, but the palette stays mostly within pink, white, and soft green.
Choose from 20, 28, or 36 stems.
Chanel
For a spring birthday, Chanel keeps things simple with yellow tulips and eucalyptus.
Tulips will continue to move and grow after delivery, so the bouquet won’t look exactly the same on day three as it did when it arrived. If the person you’re buying for likes flowers a little loose and natural rather than perfectly arranged, that’s part of the fun.
Chanel is offered seasonally, so check availability for your delivery date.
Clarisse
Clarisse is made with 20 light pink ranunculus.
There aren’t lots of extra varieties competing for attention here. That’s a good thing if you’re buying for someone who likes single-flower bouquets or keeps their home fairly simple.
Ranunculus is seasonal, so Clarisse won’t be available throughout the year.
Sarah
Sarah has a good story for someone who appreciates one.
The bouquet uses pink Sarah Bernhardt peonies, named after the famous French stage actress. Fresh eucalyptus sits between the peony stems, while the flowers do most of the work as they open.
Sarah comes in 10, 15, or 20 stems during peony season. The shade of pink can vary, and availability changes through the year.
Alma
Summer birthdays give you flowers you simply don’t see as much in February.
Alma brings together sunflowers, blue delphinium, Queen Anne’s lace, thistle, and seasonal greens. The yellow and blue combination is especially good if pink isn’t really their thing.
It’s a 25-stem seasonal bouquet, so look for it while sunflowers are available.
Rita
Some birthdays are small dinners. Others involve twenty people, a cake that barely fits in the fridge, and someone being told very firmly not to come home before seven.
Rita fits the second kind.
It’s a large seasonal arrangement with more than 50 stems and a mix of colors and flower varieties chosen according to what’s looking best at the time. Because the exact flowers can change with availability, each arrangement may vary.
If you’re sending it to a party or celebrating a major birthday, make sure there’s enough room for a bouquet of that scale.
Grand Aria
Grand Aria is another option for a milestone birthday.
It contains 55 stems in deeper shades of red, burgundy, and magenta, including Freedom and Free Spirit roses, spray roses, snapdragons, calla lilies, alstroemeria, anemones, and eucalyptus. It arrives in a glass vase, which is useful for an arrangement this size.
Because Grand Aria requires local hand delivery, availability depends on the destination. Chicago is one of the cities where it can be offered.
To see what’s available for the birthday you’re planning, browse our birthday flowers in Chicago, enter the delivery ZIP code, and choose an available date and time window.
Make Their Birthday Flowers Personal
If you already know their favorite flower, you’ve done the hardest part.
If you don’t, think about something simpler. Their favorite color is enough. So is the bunch they always stop to look at at the grocery store, or the peonies they buy every May as soon as they appear.
Then write the card. A birthday message doesn’t need to be clever. Mention something you’re looking forward to doing together this year, bring up a joke they’ll recognize immediately, or simply tell them you love them and you’re glad they’re in your life.
Choose a bouquet that reminds you of them, and leave the birthday delivery to Ode à la Rose.
