Loading…
Loading…
The October Birth Flower — Marigold and Cosmos

The October Birth Flower — Marigold and Cosmos

by Saints Flowers in Notes

October's two birth flowers sit at opposite ends of the same season. One is loud. The other is the reason the loud one doesn't look out of place.

Marigold

Marigold is bold by design — deep orange and yellow, a flower that doesn't try to blend in. It's a genuine cut flower, not just a garden one: with fresh water it typically holds for 7 to 10 days in a vase, on par with a rose. Its boldness sits outside the more restrained, tonal palettes Saints tends to work in, so where marigold shows up in our arrangements, it's usually as a note of warmth rather than the whole composition. Shop orange · Shop yellow

The symbolism fits the look — warmth, creativity, a kind of unapologetic positive energy. If you know someone whose personality matches that description, marigold's the more literal choice. For everyone else, October has a better answer already growing at exactly the right time.

Cosmos

Cosmos is the quieter of the two — thin stems, papery petals, a lightness that works well in loose, hand-tied arrangements rather than structured ones. It symbolises harmony and balance, which tracks with how it actually behaves in an arrangement: cosmos rarely dominates, it settles in among other stems and gives the whole thing movement. Shop pink

For an October birthday

The flower actually worth building an October arrangement around isn't either birth flower — it's the dahlia. October is dahlia season at its peak in the UK, and dahlias carry the same warmth as marigold with considerably more range, from soft blush through to the same deep oranges and reds. If cosmos's looseness appeals more than dahlia's structure, that's the direction to go instead — the two aren't mutually exclusive in a single arrangement.

The Florist Choice is the easiest way to get whichever of these is genuinely at its best the week you order, without having to guess what's actually in season versus what's just in season on paper.

Shop birthday flowers · Shop all arrangements

Same-day delivery across London for orders placed by 4pm. Next-day nationwide for orders by 5pm.

Related Posts

The September Birth Flower — Aster and Morning Glory

The September Birth Flower — Aster and Morning Glory

September has two birth flowers, and they couldn't behave more differently. One holds its shape for weeks. The other is gone by lunchtime. Aster The aster is the one Saints actually works with. Star-shaped, faintly daisy-like, and at its best exactly when most of the garden is starting to fade — late summer into autumn is when asters look their most alive, not their most tired. They come in purple, soft pink, blue and white, usually with a bright centre that keeps them from reading as muted even in the more restrained palettes. The name comes from the Greek for star, which is the whole flower in one word. In the language of flowers, asters carry wisdom, faith and quiet affection — sentiments that suit someone steady rather than someone flashy. They hold well in a vase, which matters more than symbolism when you're actually choosing what to send. Seraphine is the closest match in our own range — layered purple and lilac tones with silver anthurium, the same register as the aster itself. Morning glory Morning glory isn't a flower you'll find in a bouquet. It's a vine, and it wilts within hours of being cut — which is precisely why its meaning is tied to fleeting, one-day devotion rather than anything built to last. It opens fresh at dawn and closes by afternoon, every single day, for as long as the plant flowers. It's worth knowing for what it represents, less useful for what it is. If you want the sentiment without the impracticality, the aster carries a version of the same idea — affection that shows up and keeps showing up — in a form that actually survives a delivery. For a September birthday Choose for the season rather than forcing the symbolism. September sits at the point where summer stems are thinning out and autumn's richer tones haven't fully arrived, which makes it a good month for arrangements that lean into purples, blues and soft neutrals rather than fighting for brightness. The Florist Choice is a strong option here — built around whatever's genuinely at its peak the week you order, which in September usually means asters are somewhere in the mix. Shop birthday flowers · Shop all arrangements Same-day delivery across London for orders placed by 4pm. Next-day nationwide for orders by 5pm.

Read
London's Flower Markets — A Considered Guide

London's Flower Markets — A Considered Guide

London has three flower markets worth knowing about, and they serve almost entirely different purposes. Knowing which one you actually want saves a wasted trip. Columbia Road — for atmosphere and a Sunday out Sundays only, 8am to around 3pm, in Bethnal Green. This is the one most people mean when they say "the flower market" — a single Victorian street lined with stalls selling bedding plants, bulbs and cut flowers, alongside roughly 60 independent shops. It's won Britain's Best Small Outdoor Market two years running, and it's genuinely crowded by mid-morning. Go early, before 9am, for full stock and a street you can actually walk down. Go late, from around 2pm, if a bargain matters more than selection — traders drop prices hard in the last hour rather than pack unsold stock away. What you're buying here is the flower itself, not a considered arrangement of it — good for a loose bunch on your own kitchen table, less suited to anything that needs to travel or arrive on a specific day. Closer to how our hand-tied pieces are built than a structured design. New Covent Garden — for serious volume and trade prices Nine Elms, Monday to Saturday, 4am to 10am. This is the market Saints and most other London florists actually buy from — roughly 75% of the city's florists source stock here. It's wholesale by nature but open to the public on foot at no entry fee (£5 if you're driving in), and there's no minimum spend requirement, though prices and quantities are pitched at trade buyers rather than someone wanting a single bunch. Worth it if you're planning an event, a wedding, or need genuine bulk at a fraction of retail cost. Not worth it for a single birthday bouquet — the effort-to-reward ratio only makes sense at volume, and 4am is a real commitment for one arrangement. New Spitalfields — for bulk, without the crowds Leyton, weekdays, midnight to 9am. The UK's highest-turnover horticultural market by volume, and the least known to the general public of the three — mostly trade, mostly industrial in feel, with the same bulk-buying logic as New Covent Garden but further east and less visited. Worth knowing exists if you're east London-based and doing your own large-scale buying, otherwise not a market that adds much over the other two for most people. Which one is actually for you For a considered gift or an occasion that needs to arrive somewhere specific, none of these three is really the answer — that's what a florist is for, and it's the gap The Florist Choice is built to fill: whatever's genuinely at its best that week, arranged and delivered rather than carried home on the Overground. For a Sunday out with flowers as the excuse, Columbia Road. For genuine bulk at trade prices and you're willing to get up early, New Covent Garden. Shop all arrangements Same-day delivery across London for orders placed by 4pm. Next-day nationwide for orders by 5pm.

Read
How to Make Cut Flowers Last Longer

How to Make Cut Flowers Last Longer

Most arrangements die early for the same handful of preventable reasons, not from natural expiry. A few habits make more difference than any single product. Cut the stems properly, and keep doing it A cut flower can only drink through the fresh end of its stem — the moment it's cut, the exposed cells start to seal themselves within hours, which is why flowers left untrimmed for days drink progressively less. Recut an inch off each stem every two to three days, at an angle, using a sharp blade rather than scissors, which crush the stem and close off more of the intake surface than a clean cut does. Change the water more often than feels necessary Bacteria in the water is the single biggest cause of early wilting — not age, not temperature, bacteria. It builds in the vase, travels up the stem, and blocks the flower's ability to take up water long before the petals show it. Change the water every two days, and rinse the vase properly rather than just topping it up. Strip anything below the waterline Leaves and foliage sitting in water rot quickly and accelerate bacterial growth far more than the flower itself does. Strip anything that would sit below the water line before placing stems in the vase — a five-second step most people skip. Keep them cool and out of direct light Heat accelerates the flower's metabolism, which shortens its life. Direct sunlight, radiators, and the top of a fridge or television all do the same thing. A cool spot out of direct sun adds days, not hours, particularly for anything with a naturally shorter vase life. Do flower food, aspirin, sugar and bleach actually work? Flower food works, and it's worth using every time — it combines an acidifier (lowers the water's pH to help uptake), sugar (feeds the flower, since it's cut off from the plant's own energy source), and a biocide (controls bacteria). It's the only one of these that addresses all three problems at once. The kitchen-cupboard alternatives each address one part of the problem, not all three. Aspirin lowers pH slightly but does nothing for bacteria. Sugar feeds the flower but actively encourages bacterial growth if used alone, which can make things worse rather than better. A drop of bleach controls bacteria but does nothing for feeding or pH. None of them is wrong, exactly — they're each solving a third of a problem that proper flower food solves in one. Reviving flowers that have already started to droop Recut the stems underwater — cutting while submerged stops air re-entering the stem, which is the main reason a recut alone sometimes doesn't help. Give them a few hours in fresh water somewhere cool before deciding whether they've genuinely reached the end or just needed the reset. Every Saints order arrives with our own care guide, and The Florist Choice is built from whatever's genuinely at its peak in season — flowers that are fresher to begin with need less rescuing later. Shop all arrangements Same-day delivery across London for orders placed by 4pm. Next-day nationwide for orders by 5pm.

Read

Flower Delivery London | Same-Day from £29 | Saints Flowers