Flowers for someone who is sick or recovering

Sending flowers to someone in the hospital is a gesture people deeply appreciate, and one that can also make their day harder. The difference lies in a few details.

First: find out if it's allowed

There are areas where flowers simply aren't allowed in: intensive care, coronary units, transplant units, oncology with immunosuppressed patients, and neonatal units. In some cases it's a hospital-wide policy. Ask before you buy: a bouquet left at the front desk does no one any good.

What to choose

• Warm, cheerful colors: yellow, orange, coral. This is the moment when color does more than elegance.
• Gerberas and sunflowers. Nothing brightens a gray room like them.
• A small arrangement in its own base, with wet floral foam: it needs no vase, won't tip over, and fits on a nightstand. It's the right format for a hospital.
• No scent. In a closed room, with someone who is nauseous or sensitive to smells, an Oriental lily is a real problem.

What to avoid

• Bouquets that need a vase. Nobody has a vase in a hospital room, and the staff aren't there for that.
• All-white arrangements and white lilies: they read as funeral flowers. Not in a hospital room.
• Large arrangements. Space is minimal and there's equipment all around.
• Flowers with a lot of pollen, because of allergies and because it stains.
• Potted plants in soil in areas with immunosuppressed patients: soil carries fungi.

The alternative that's often better

Send it to their home, for the day they're discharged or the days after. Coming home after a hospital stay is a strange, quiet moment, and a bouquet waiting there does much more than one in the hospital room. Plus, at home there's actually somewhere to put it.

For the card

Short and without drama. "Get well soon, we're waiting for you" works. "Thinking of you every day" does too. What to avoid are lines that require a reply or demand optimism: the person is tired and doesn't need to manage your worry.