Women's Day Flowers for Russia: Mimosa, Tulips and Timing

Queues outside every florist, armfuls of yellow mimosa, companies handing bouquets to their female staff — that's 8 March in Russia. In much of the world, International Women's Day is a day of awareness; in Russia it's a public holiday and the biggest flower day of the year. Mothers, wives, sisters, colleagues, teachers — almost every woman expects flowers. If someone you love lives in Russia, there's hardly a better day to send them.

Mimosa, tulips, roses: the day's three flowers

• Mimosa: fluffy yellow sprigs that announce spring — the traditional symbol of 8 March.
• Tulips: one of the best-loved flowers in March, given in every colour.
• Roses: the classic pick for a wife or partner.

When should you order?

On a normal day, orders to Russia placed before 12:00 noon Turkey time (also 12:00 in Moscow) are delivered the same day. But 8 March is the single busiest day of the year for Russian florists, so don't wait until the last minute — ordering at least a week ahead is the wise move.

Ordering in five steps

1. Set the delivery country to Russia. Prices show in euros; you can switch to roubles in the top menu.
2. Choose your flowers and enter 8 March as the delivery date.
3. Fill in the recipient's name, phone number and address: city, street, building and flat number.
4. Add a card message. A few words in Russian always land well: "С 8 Марта!" (Happy 8 March!).
5. Pay securely by card.

Two small rules: numbers and colour

Numbers: in Russia, flowers for happy occasions are given in odd numbers — 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 15. Even numbers are kept for funerals and memorials, so count individual roses carefully. Big bouquets of dozens of stems are rarely counted.

Colour: an old belief links yellow flowers with separation or infidelity. Mimosa is the exception and perfectly fine on 8 March — but skip yellow roses for a partner. Red, pink and white are always safe.

From Soviet holiday to a day of affection

8 March became a public holiday in the Soviet era and gradually left its political meaning behind to become a day of love and gratitude towards women. Think of it as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day rolled into one: companies give flowers to their female staff, and children arrive at school with flowers for their teachers.

Flower days through the Russian year

• Mother's Day: the last Sunday of November.
• Knowledge Day (1 September): the first day of school, when pupils bring flowers to their teachers.
• Birthdays: celebrating early is bad luck, so don't let the flowers arrive ahead of time.

Browse everything you can send on the send flowers to Russia page, and for customs in other countries see flower gifting taboos by country.