How to send flowers to Medellín from abroad

What you need to have on hand

• The full address, with the neighborhood and, if it's a gated complex or building, the tower and apartment.
• A Colombian phone number for the recipient. This is what fails most. Without a number, if no one is home, the courier has no one to call.
• The day and time slot. If it's a surprise, think about when they'll be at home or at the office.
• The card message, written exactly how you want it to read.

How addresses are written in Medellín

This confuses almost anyone who's been away for years. In Medellín streets are numbered: calles run in one direction and carreras run perpendicular to them, and a typical address looks like this: “Carrera 43A # 18-95, apto 502, El Poblado”.

Many streets also have a popular name —la 10, la 33, Avenida El Poblado— that people use daily but that doesn't always match the number. If you only have the popular name or a landmark (“next to the Envigado park”), send it to us anyway and we'll confirm it on WhatsApp before heading out. That's better than having the courier drive around in circles.

How to pay from another country

You order in the shop like anyone else: choose the arrangement, enter the delivery address in Medellín and pay online. You don't need a Colombian account or to be here.

Prices are in Colombian pesos, so it's worth checking the conversion before setting your budget: what looks like a big number in pesos is usually much less than an equivalent arrangement costs in the United States or Europe. The only condition is that delivery must be within our coverage area: Medellín and selected towns in the Aburrá Valley.

How long it takes and when to order

A regular order is delivered the same day, within three to four hours in Medellín. Farther towns take a bit longer, and Rionegro is scheduled one day in advance.

Watch out for the time difference, which is the number one cause of late orders. Colombia is on UTC−5 and doesn't change its clocks all year:

• Miami or New York: one hour ahead in summer, the same time in winter.
• Madrid: seven hours ahead in summer, six in winter. If you order at nine at night there, it's two in the afternoon here and there's still time.
• Santiago, Chile: one or two hours ahead depending on the time of year.

Simple rule: if you want same-day delivery, place your order before 1 p.m. Colombia time.

What happens if no one is home

First, we call the recipient's phone. If they don't answer, we message you. In gated complexes and buildings, it's usually left at the front desk with the name and apartment, which also avoids spoiling the surprise if the person is at work.

If there's no front desk and no one answers, the arrangement goes back to the shop and is rescheduled. That's why we insist so much on the phone number.

Deliveries to clinics and offices

They're very common with orders from abroad, especially when a baby is born. For a clinic we need the patient's full name and, if you know it, the room or floor; some have visiting-hour restrictions and it must be left at reception.

For an office, the full name, department or floor, and a time during working hours. Avoid Friday afternoons: many people have already left.

Dates when you need to order early

For busy dates —Mother's Day in May, Valentine's Day in February, Love & Friendship Day in September, Christmas— order two or three days in advance. It's not about selling early: on those days the city gets congested, time slots fill up and some products sell out.

A useful note for anyone who's been away a while: in Colombia, Mother's Day is the second Sunday in May and Love & Friendship Day is celebrated in September, not on February 14 as in other countries.

How you'll know it arrived

We coordinate on WhatsApp and let you know when the order leaves and when it's delivered. If you'd like, we take a photo of the delivery: for someone far away, that photo is half the gift.

A tip from the people who deliver them

Write the card yourself, even if it's short, and in your own words. We handwrite it exactly as you send it. When someone receives flowers from a relative who lives far away, what they keep looking at isn't the bouquet: it's the little card.

You can see the coverage and rates by town or start with the catalog.

How to choose the arrangement when you can't see it

Buying flowers from afar comes with a reasonable fear: that what arrives won't look like the photo. Three things reduce that risk to almost zero:

• Look at the number of flowers, not the framing. A close-up photo makes twelve roses look like twenty-four. The quantity is always in the product description.
• Ask for a photo before it goes out. We'll send it to you on WhatsApp with the finished arrangement; if something doesn't convince you, there's time to change it.
• Consider the scale. If you're torn between two sizes and the delivery is to a home, go one up; if it's to an office, go one down.

It's also good to know that flowers are a living, seasonal product: if a variety or color isn't available that day, we'll let you know and suggest the closest equivalent before arranging it. We never change anything without telling you.

Quick checklist before paying

Review this and your order will go right the first time:

• Address with neighborhood, tower and apartment.
• Recipient's Colombian phone number.
• Delivery day and time slot, calculated in Colombia time.
• Card message, written exactly how you want it to read.
• Your WhatsApp, so we can let you know when it leaves and when it arrives.
• If it's a surprise: say so, so we don't call announcing the order.

Frequently asked questions