Sending Flowers to Russia: A Florist's Practical Guide

You can send flowers to Russia from anywhere in the world: choose a bouquet on our site, pay online, give us the recipient's address and phone number, and our courier brings the flowers to the door. In large cities express delivery takes 1-2 hours after the order is confirmed, or you can pick an exact time or a pre-order date. Delivery within the city costs 500 RUB; for suburbs and remote districts the operator confirms the price when confirming the order.

Most people who order flowers to Russia are doing it from a distance: a daughter in Berlin sending a birthday bouquet to her mother in Samara, a colleague in London thanking a team in Moscow, a husband abroad remembering an anniversary. The ordering part is simple. What makes the difference is knowing how flowers are read in Russia, choosing the right timing across time zones and giving the courier details that get the bouquet into the right hands. This guide walks you through all of it.

How ordering flowers to Russia works, step by step

Start in the bouquets catalogue and pick a composition by occasion, size or flower type. Then fill in the recipient's name, full address and phone number, choose the delivery date and time, and write the text for the card. The card is free, so it is worth taking a minute over the words. Payment is made online on the site by bank card, SBP or Yandex Pay. If you are wondering how this works with a foreign currency account, our article on paying in USD or EUR for flower delivery in Russia explains the options.

After you place the order, the operator confirms it. For an express order the clock starts from that confirmation: in large cities the bouquet arrives in 1-2 hours. If the address is in a suburb or a remote district, this is also the moment when the operator tells you the delivery price, so nothing comes as a surprise later.

If you want a second pair of eyes, write to our manager on WhatsApp. That is the easiest way to get help choosing a bouquet, to agree the exact time, to check the spelling of a Russian address or card text, and to ask for a photo of the bouquet before it leaves. Many customers abroad like seeing the actual flowers before their mother or friend does.

Choosing a bouquet that reads well in Russia

Russia has a few flower conventions that are worth knowing, because the recipient will notice them even if you do not. The best known is the number of stems: for celebrations, Russians give an odd number of flowers - 5, 7, 11, 15. Even numbers are associated with funerals and remembrance. In large bouquets of 25 stems and more, people no longer count, but for a small bunch of roses or tulips keep to odd numbers.

Colour carries meaning too. Red roses are romantic and are best kept for a husband, wife or sweetheart. For a mother, grandmother or older relative, soft pinks, cream, peach and white feel warm and respectful. Yellow flowers once had a reputation for meaning separation; younger people rarely care, but if the recipient is from an older generation, a mixed bouquet where yellow is one of several colours is the safer choice. White chrysanthemums and carnations in strict arrangements lean towards memorial occasions, while bright spray chrysanthemums in a mixed bouquet are perfectly cheerful.

Think about the size of the home as well. Many people in Russian cities live in apartments, and a very tall arrangement can be hard to place. A medium round bouquet of roses, eustoma and seasonal greenery fits on any table, lasts well and looks generous. For a man - a father, a colleague, a client - choose a compact, structured bouquet in deep colours rather than something frilly.

Bouquets we can deliver

Bouquet of 1 yellow sunflowers

$12

Bouquet of 3 red gerberas

$20

Bouquet of 3 white matthiola

$22

Bouquet of 3 pink matthiola

$22

Timing across time zones and delivery windows

Russia spans eleven time zones, and you are probably in yet another one. Before choosing a time, check the time at the recipient's address, not yours. A bouquet that arrives at 8 am in Novosibirsk because you ordered it for your morning in Paris is not the gentle surprise you had in mind.

You have three ways to set the timing. Express delivery in large cities brings the flowers 1-2 hours after the order is confirmed - useful when you remember a birthday on the day itself. If you know exactly when the person is at home, choose an exact time, and the courier arrives within 30 minutes either side of it. If you only know roughly, pick a time window: 09-12, 12-15, 15-18 or 18-21. The morning window works well for birthdays, so the bouquet sets the tone for the whole day; the evening window suits people who work.

For dates you know in advance - a birthday, 8 March, an anniversary, a teacher's day - pre-order 1 to 30 days ahead. You choose the bouquet calmly, the order is in the system, and you are not racing the clock from another continent on the day itself.

Getting the address and recipient details right

Russian addresses have more parts than many people abroad expect: city, street, building number, sometimes a korpus or stroenie (block or structure), entrance (podyezd), floor, apartment number and an intercom code. Give all of them. A missing entrance number in a large residential block can cost the courier twenty minutes walking around the courtyard. If you know a landmark or the building is new and not yet on every map, mention that too.

The recipient's phone number is just as important. The courier calls about 15 minutes before arrival, so the person has time to come down or open the door. If you are planning a surprise, do not worry: the call is simply to make sure someone is at home, and the courier does not name the sender.

If the recipient is out, the bouquet does not simply disappear. We agree a second delivery the same day, or, with your consent, hand the flowers to a neighbour or a concierge. If you already know the person may be hard to catch, say so when ordering, and our article on what courier drivers do when an address is hard to find shows what details help most.

Writing the card and keeping it anonymous

Delivery is anonymous by default: the courier hands over the bouquet without saying who it is from. So the card is where you decide how much to reveal. Sign with your name, a nickname only the recipient knows, or nothing at all if you enjoy a mystery.

You can write the card in English or in Russian. If the recipient is an older relative who does not read English, a few words in Russian mean a great deal - even a simple 'S dnem rozhdeniya, mama!' (Happy birthday, Mum!). Our manager can help you agree the card text when you confirm the details. Keep the message short: three or four lines are read and kept; a long letter on a small card is hard to read. For more ideas, see how to add a gift card message.

How the recipient can keep the flowers fresh

A bouquet that travels across a city in a car needs a few minutes of attention when it arrives. If it comes in an aqua pack (a small water reservoir in the wrapping), it can stand as it is for a few hours, but it will last much longer in a vase. Ask the recipient to remove the wrapping, trim each stem by 1-2 cm at a sharp angle with a clean knife or secateurs, and strip any leaves that would sit below the water line.

Cool water, a clean vase and a spot away from radiators make the biggest difference, especially in autumn and winter when Russian apartments are well heated. Change the water every day or two and trim the stems again each time. Roses and chrysanthemums treated this way often last a week or more; tulips keep growing in the vase and bend towards the light, so turn the vase now and then. If a rose head droops early, re-cut the stem and stand it in deep water for an hour - it often recovers.