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Can you send flowers to a hospital or ICU?

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Call the hospital before you order, because many intensive care, cancer and transplant units, and some newborn units, do not accept flowers or plants. If the patient's unit takes them, address the order to the patient's full name, with the unit and room number, at the hospital's main street address. Many hospitals turn away latex balloons, and some units refuse foil balloons too. There is no same-day delivery, so if the patient may be home before the flowers arrive, send them to their home instead.

Can you send flowers to the ICU or other hospital units?

Many intensive care units (ICUs) do not take flowers, and neither do many cancer and transplant units. Each hospital keeps its own list, and some maternity and newborn units exclude flowers too.

  • ICUs at NewYork-Presbyterian, Morris Hospital, The Christ Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital do not take flowers, and Mass General Brigham says its intensive care and medical oncology units limit or prohibit them.
  • Cancer and transplant units at NewYork-Presbyterian bar flowers. The blood and marrow transplant unit at UK HealthCare's Markey Cancer Center allows no flowers or plants, because they may carry a fungus that could make patients sick.
  • Labor and delivery units and newborn nurseries at NewYork-Presbyterian bar flowers, and Salem Health in Oregon allows no flowers or plants in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

NewYork-Presbyterian's ban in these units covers artificial and dried arrangements as well as fresh flowers.

Ask about potted plants as well as cut flowers. The Markey Cancer Center and Salem Health rules name both.

A unit that takes no flowers may still take cards. Duke Raleigh Hospital, which bars flowers from its ICU, encourages cards for ICU patients.

Can you send a balloon to a hospital?

Many hospitals do not allow latex balloons. Morris Hospital bans them from the whole building to protect people with latex allergies, and NewYork-Presbyterian and Mass General Brigham do not permit them either.

Foil balloons, often called Mylar balloons after a brand of the film they are made from, are allowed at Mass General Brigham, and Morris Hospital delivers them to patient rooms outside the ICU. Some units turn them away as well. NewYork-Presbyterian keeps Mylar balloons out of the units where it bars flowers, and ICU patients at Duke Raleigh Hospital may not receive balloons.

The balloon add-on is a helium-filled foil balloon. Ask the unit whether it takes foil balloons before you add one.

What to ask the hospital before you order

  1. Get the details from the family. Ask for the patient's full name as the hospital has it, the hospital's name, the unit and room number, and when they expect to go home.

  2. Call the unit. Call the hospital's main number and ask for the patient's unit. Ask whether it accepts fresh flowers, potted plants and glass vases, and foil balloons if you plan to add one.

  3. Ask about delivery hours. Some hospitals take flowers only at set times. The Christ Hospital takes them from 9 am to 3 pm on weekdays and from noon to 3 pm on Saturdays. We cannot guarantee the time of day a delivery arrives, so ask what happens to flowers that come outside those hours.

  4. Ask about discharge. Ask whether the hospital forwards flowers that arrive after a patient goes home, or sends them back.

If the hospital says it has no patient by that name, check the spelling with the family. The patient may also have asked to be left out of the hospital directory. The HIPAA Privacy Rule lets a hospital tell someone who asks for a patient by name where that patient is, unless the patient has opted out. At the University of Rochester's Highland Hospital, a patient who has opted out receives no mail, flowers or gifts. In that case, send the flowers to the patient's home.

How to address flowers to a hospital patient

  • Put the patient's first and last name in the name field, spelled as the hospital has them.
  • Use the hospital's main street address, or the address its website gives for patient mail and flowers.
  • Put the unit and room number in the second address line.
  • Give a phone number that someone answers during the day, such as the patient's mobile or a family member's. The delivery partner may call it to arrange delivery.

Mass General Brigham lays out a delivery address as the patient's first and last name, room number, street address, city, state and ZIP code.

Some hospitals take flowers at a front desk and carry them to the room themselves. Mass General Brigham distributes mail and flowers to patients daily, and The Christ Hospital does not let florists past its information desk. An order left with a reception desk or mailroom counts as delivered.

What happens if the patient goes home first?

Hospitals handle flowers that arrive after discharge in different ways. Duke Raleigh Hospital forwards flowers and mail to the patient's home address. The Christ Hospital sends flowers back with the florist when a patient has been discharged or cannot receive them.

No refund is owed when a hospital's rules turn an order away, or when the patient has gone home by the delivery day you chose.

An order placed before 2 pm Eastern can arrive the next delivery day. There is no same-day or Sunday delivery, so an order placed after 2 pm on a Friday, or at any time on a Saturday, arrives on Monday at the earliest.

If the stay may end before the delivery day, send the flowers to the patient's home. You can book a delivery day up to 60 days ahead, so choose a day after they expect to be home. A potted orchid lasts longer than cut flowers and needs water only when its potting mix is nearly dry.

Which flowers and plants to send

Each note covers the flowers or plant it names. The greenery and seasonal fillers vary with the season and are not covered here.

  • Tulips

    Tulips with seasonal greenery, in season from January to May. For the rest of the year the bouquet comes with ranunculus in their place.

    Toxic to cats and dogs. Chewing tulips can cause vomiting, diarrhea, drooling and lethargy. Chewing ranunculus, which replace them out of season, can also cause mouth sores, loss of appetite and a wobbly walk.

    Shop Spring Tulips

  • Sunflowers

    Sunflowers drink quickly, so ask a visitor to top up the water every day.

    Sunflowers are not toxic to cats or dogs.

    Shop Sunflowers

  • Phalaenopsis orchids

    The orchid comes in its pot, so it needs no vase. Water it when the potting mix is nearly dry, then let the pot drain fully.

    Phalaenopsis orchids are not toxic to cats or dogs.

    Shop Phalaenopsis Orchid

  • Boston ferns

    Keep the fern in indirect light, with soil that stays lightly moist. Like any potted plant, it needs no vase.

    Boston ferns are not toxic to cats or dogs.

    Shop Boston Fern

A bouquet comes without a vase unless you add the Glass Vase, and a hospital room may have nothing to stand it in. Add the vase to a bouquet for a unit that takes glass, or send a potted plant, which needs none, where the unit allows plants.

NewYork-Presbyterian prefers silk flowers to real ones because some patients may be allergic to real flowers. If the patient shares a room, ask the unit before you send strongly scented flowers such as lilies.

If a pet chews a plant marked toxic here, or one you cannot name, call your vet.

See also

The tulips in this guide

Spring Tulips

Tulipa gesnerianafrom $65