There's an art to giving flowers to the sick: choosing the right blooms shows you care

Giving flowers when visiting a sick person is a common courtesy in daily life, a way to express sympathy with fresh blooms. A well-matched bouquet can convey care and good wishes, add a touch of life to a plain hospital room, lift the patient's spirits and genuinely help with recovery.

When choosing flowers, it is best to pick varieties whose flower language relates to recovery and health and whose scent is light. Common choices include carnations, calla lilies, gladiolus, lisianthus, baby's breath and freesia, with bright warm colors such as pink and orange to create a warm, lively feel. If you want to add lilies, bear in mind that their fragrance is strong, so decide based on how well the patient can tolerate it.

Some flowers are not really suitable for a get-well visit. In traditional custom, white and yellow chrysanthemums are mostly associated with mourning occasions and generally should not be brought into a hospital room; flowers with a strong scent or a lot of pollen easily irritate the airways and are not friendly to patients with allergies or respiratory conditions. In some places there is also a custom against giving potted plants, since a potted plant taking root is considered an unlucky meaning; although this is a folk belief, it is worth keeping in mind when visiting.

There are also a few details worth noting when actually giving flowers. The bouquet should be moderate in size, so as not to take up the limited space in a hospital room or add to the patient's burden of caring for it; some hospitals have rules about placing fresh flowers in rooms, so it is best to ask clearly before visiting. If the patient really should not be around fresh flowers, giving fruit or a handwritten card instead expresses your care just as well.