Weekly Flowers

The name suggests a subscription service, and subscriptions are indeed part of it — but Weekly Flowers is a full florist that has been working out of the same east-end business park since 1984, with its own designers and its own vans. Its distinguishing feature is stubborn availability: deliveries run seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, which in a city where statutory holidays and Sundays quietly close everything is the whole reason to know the name.

What to come here for

Four decades in one place means the shop has seen every Ottawa occasion more than once: birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, get-well arrangements for a hospital room, thank-yous, the sudden bouquet that has to arrive on a Sunday because that is when the apology is due. Fruit and gourmet baskets sit alongside flowers, which makes it a workable single call when the recipient is in hospital and cut stems are the wrong idea.

Weddings and proms are a named line — a useful pairing in a city with a June graduation season — and the shop also works with businesses and event planners across the region, which is where the standing weekly and monthly orders come from. Sympathy and funeral arrangements are part of the regular work as well.

Delivery and urgency

The shop states that orders placed by 4 pm Eastern go out for same-day delivery, and that the vans run every day of the year — Sundays and holidays included. In a city that shuts down on a long weekend, that second fact matters more than the first: it means Boxing Day, Easter Sunday and the awkward Monday holidays are still deliverable days.

Coverage is city-wide and then some: Centretown and Westboro, Vanier and Gloucester, Nepean, Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans, Stittsville, and across the river into Gatineau. Because the shop is affiliated with FTD and Teleflora, it can also send an order out of town — useful when the person you are thinking about is in another province and you would rather deal with a shop that knows your city than with an anonymous website.

Highlights

• Deliveries every day of the year. Sundays and statutory holidays included, which is rare here.
• A 4 pm same-day line — late enough to save an afternoon that got away from you.
• Working in the same premises since 1984. Four decades of Ottawa weddings, funerals and Fridays.
• Baskets as well as bouquets. Fruit and gourmet hampers, cookies, balloons and plush for the maternity-ward end of the trade.
• Subscriptions with a pause button. Weekly or monthly delivery for a home or an office, stoppable at any point.
• Outbound orders through FTD and Teleflora when the flowers need to reach another city.

Where the flowers come from

The shop does not publish its growers or its buying schedule; what it describes instead is a large standing inventory of fresh flowers on site, which is the practical precondition for filling an order at four in the afternoon on a holiday Sunday. Its FTD and Teleflora membership concerns sending orders elsewhere, not who grows what arrives here.

The space, the service and what else is on the shelves

The premises are described as spacious rather than boutique, and the shop invites in-store consultations — a sensible use of a big room, because it lets you look at real stems before committing to an event order. Alongside cut flowers there are green and flowering plants, tropical arrangements and European dish gardens, silk arrangements for places where fresh flowers are impractical, and the gift side: fruit and gourmet baskets, gourmet cookies, balloon bouquets and plush toys.

When to come and how to get there

The shop sits in the Canotek business park in the east end, a few minutes from the eastern parkway and, by the shop’s own reckoning, five minutes from downtown — a drive-and-park errand with room to leave the car, not a strip you stumble upon. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, prom and graduation season in June and the December stretch are the crunch weeks; the rest of the year the useful trick is remembering that the vans run on the days everyone else is closed. In deep winter, ask how the arrangement will be wrapped for the trip.

Questions and answers

How late can I order for delivery today?

The shop states 4 pm Eastern for same-day delivery. On the big flower days it is worth ordering earlier rather than testing the line.

Do they really deliver on Sundays and holidays?

Yes — the stated schedule is seven days a week, every day of the year, which is the main reason to keep this shop’s number.

Which areas do they cover?

Ottawa city-wide, including Centretown, Westboro, Vanier, Gloucester, Nepean, Kanata, Barrhaven, Orleans and Stittsville, plus Gatineau across the river.

Can they send flowers to another city?

Yes, through their FTD and Teleflora affiliation, which covers most of the country and much of the world.

Can I come in and choose in person?

Yes — in-store consultations are invited, and for an event order that is the sensible way to do it.

What if flowers are the wrong gift?

Fruit and gourmet baskets, cookies, balloons and plush are part of the same catalogue and the same delivery run.

Do they do weddings?

Weddings and proms are a named line of work; book as soon as the date is set, because June is busy for both at once.

How do the subscriptions work?

Weekly or monthly deliveries to a home or an office, and the shop states you can pause or cancel at any time.

Opening hours