Do You Need to Order Grave Flowers in Advance?

It depends on where the flowers come from and how they get to the grave. For a visit you are making yourself, a same-day bouquet is fine. For a holiday, or a cemetery you cannot get to, planning ahead makes the difference between flowers that arrive on the day and flowers that arrive late.

If you are visiting yourself

• Grocery store or market bouquets need no advance order. Pick them up on the way. Remove the plastic sleeve and any rubber band, and bring a vase insert if the headstone has a vase.
• A local florist can make a sturdier arrangement, often in a saddle or a cemetery cone. A day or two of notice is usually enough, more around Memorial Day and Mother's Day.
• Silk flowers can be bought any time and stored until the visit.

Around the big cemetery holidays

Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Easter and Christmas are the busiest days of the year at cemeteries and for florists. Markets sell out of popular flowers, and florists take far more orders than usual. For those dates, order a week or more ahead if a florist is making the arrangement.

If you can't get to the cemetery

Most florists do not deliver inside cemeteries, because there is no one to hand the flowers to and finding the grave takes time. A graveside delivery service exists for exactly this, and it needs more notice: someone has to find the grave, often using the section and plot number, and place the arrangement within the cemetery's rules.

Fresh or silk?

Fresh flowers last only a few days at a grave in warm weather, sometimes a week or more in the cold. Silk lasts for months and is what most cemeteries allow for long stretches, especially in winter. Our guides to how long flowers last on a grave and silk versus fresh flowers go into detail.

A simple rule of thumb

• Visiting yourself: the same day is fine.
• Florist arrangement for a holiday: a week or more ahead.
• Flowers placed for you at a cemetery you cannot visit: three weeks or more, and earlier for holidays.