Birthday
Color first. If you know the kitchen — clay, navy, a yellow chair — stay inside that family. Mixed brights suit a party table. Two colors suit an office. Carnations and mums survive a workplace better than garden roses, which bruise in a hot car and a hotter afternoon.
Skip the giant bow if you are not sure. A handwritten line does more than extra stems.
Anniversary
Weight over noise. Peony in its short season, garden rose the rest of the year, ranunculus when you want ruffle without the peony price of attention. Red is the old sentence for lasting love. Blush is affection. White is risky unless you know they read it as clean and formal, not as a farewell.
Host
Bring the vase. A host should not hunt for a jar while dinner is on the stove. A low bowl they can park on a sideboard is kinder than a tall bunch that blocks the hallway.
New parent
Low, unscented if you can manage it, and nothing with pollen that sheds on a blanket. A compact bunch on a table they already pass is better than a perfumed armload in a bedroom.
Coworker
Desk scale. A posy, not a centerpiece. No lilies if the room is shared — the scent carries. Include the fact that it should last a work week, and ask for carnation, mum, or alstroemeria.
We do not list prices. Local shops do. Your job is the brief: relationship, room, colors to avoid, and how many days it needs to look like itself.