Favourite Flowers for Fabulous Mums On Mother's Day

Mother, mum, mama, Mummy, ma, mommy, mom . . . however we address our mother, this significant person in our lives is worth celebrating, and you’ll find this happening all over the world on Mother’s Day. If you’re a mum with children living in different parts of the world, you might be lucky enough to receive gifts on more than one day, as the date of Mother’s Day varies depending on where you live.

In the UK, we celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday in Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday. However, as this is a moveable date, it’s important to check the exact day each year—in 2025, Mother’s Day falls on March 30th (in 2024, it was March 10th; in 2023, March 19th; and in 2022, March 27th). Traditionally, Mother’s Day was known as ‘Mothering Sunday,’ an early Christian festival marking the day when people would visit their ‘mother’ church—the church or cathedral closest to where they were born.

By the 1700s, this day had evolved into one where apprentices and servants were given time off to visit their families, most notably their mothers. During these journeys, children would pick wildflowers for their mums—a tradition that continues today, making flowers one of the most popular gifts for Mother’s Day.

In 2023, over 74% of people purchased flowers for their mums, with more than 23 million flowers sold for the occasion! With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the most popular Mother’s Day flowers and the meanings behind them to help you choose the perfect bloom for your fabulous mum.

Here are our top six blooms to inspire you this Mother’s Day and help you make the right choice to perfectly suit your fabulous mum.

Daffodils / Narcissus Pseudonarcissus

There are two main reasons that daffodils have become synonymous with Mother’s Day - one is about timing and one is about tradition. In the UK, where Mother’s Day is always three weeks before Easter Sunday, daffodils will be at their most beautiful as they are the ultimate spring flower. This also means that they are symbolic of rebirth, hope, and new beginnings as they emerge from the ground early, having managed to survive the cold winter months. This makes them perfect for new mothers and represents the strength and endurance of a Mother's love.

Back in the 16th century when the custom of ‘Mothering Sunday’ (which later morphed into Mother’s Day) was first established, wild daffodils would have been one of the flowers available to pick as people returned to their ‘mother’ church and visited with their families. In fact, it became a custom in many churches on Mothering Sunday to give out flowers - often daffodils - to mothers during the services.

Our Perfect Purchase for Mums Who Love Daffodils

If you are presenting a bunch of daffodils to your mum this Mother’s Day, why not encourage her to grow her own and see spring arrive in golden yellow with a Burgon & Ball Bulb Planting Set? This gift set includes everything your mum will need to be planting bulbs later in the year, ready for a glorious spring display just in time for Mother’s Day next year.

Daffodils are also an excellent, long-lasting flower, making them perfect vase flowers. When selecting a bunch of daffodils, ideally pick those which are at the ‘goose neck’ stage - that’s when the daffodil bud is in colour and the head is virtually perpendicular to the stem. You will find many bunches of daffodils for sale when the stem and bud are inline and the bud looks very green - although these are still likely to open in the heat of our homes this isn’t always the case, so look for buds which are showing some colour so you know they haven't been picked too early.

Did you know?

In the UK, the daffodil market is worth around £23 million, which is why a national daffodil shortage in 2013 became a newsworthy event!

As with most things in gardening, this shortage was due to the weather, as explained by Claire Taylor, chair of the British Daffodil Growers' Association: “The bulbs are in the ground for two years, and we had a cold winter last year. The last few months have also been very cold and grey, with no sun, so the daffodils are flowering late . . . The cold weather means we are way behind . . . We have only picked half the number of daffodils compared to last year.” This shortage meant that when demand increased for Mother’s Day—one of the busiest weekends for florists—the wholesale prices for daffodils at Covent Garden rose by 50%.

Carnations / Dianthus Caryophyllus

"The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies, and so, too, Mother's hug their children to their hearts, their Mother love never dying." - Courtesy of Anna Jarvis, 1927, the Founder of Mother's Day in the United States.

Carnations have to be at the top of the list when it comes to flowers, as they are the official flowers for Mother’s Day in the US. Anna Jarvis distributed 500 white carnations at the first official Mother’s Day service in 1908 in West Virginia, believing these blooms to "typify some of the virtues of motherhood… Its whiteness symbolises the truth, purity, and broad charity of mother love; its fragrance, her memory, and her prayers." Following that first service, other churches and communities took up this tradition of giving carnations and, hence, its association as the ‘official flower’ was sealed.

Although the traditional choice, carnations are also a cost-effective and enduring gift as they are one of the longest-lasting blooms, lasting for up to three weeks in a vase. Plus, available in a wide variety of shapes and colours, you can select the hue most appropriate to your mum or to the meaning you wish to express: 

• White - symbolises unconditional love, purity and good luck
• Pink - represents love, gratitude and appreciation for a mother’s love
• Red - used to show your deep love and admiration for your mother
• Yellow - symbolising friendship, yellow is the characteristic colour of spring, is bright, cheerful and optimistic
• Purple - perfect for creative mums, it signifies adventure and imagination.

Our Perfect Purchase for Crafty, Creative Mums

Although you would like your Mother’s Day flowers to last forever, in reality they will only provide weeks of joy. However, if your mum is creative she could try pressing some of the blooms as a keepsake!

This beautiful Botanical Press and Display Set not only has everything needed to press the full carnation blooms or the petals, but it also includes two double-sided frames so they can create a memory they can display all year round.

Tulips / Fasciolaria Tulipa

Synonymous with Spring in the UK, tulips are traditionally associated with deep, unconditional love - making them perfect to represent the love between a mother and child.

If you are a gardener who plans ahead, you could be picking your own tulips for Mother’s Day by choosing one of the early varieties that start to bloom at the end of March, such as ‘Orange Emperor’, ‘Purissima’, ‘Van der Neer’, or the glorious ‘Chato’, with its abundant double blooms that make it look like a peony.

Our Perfect Purchase for Bulb Growers

Although tulips are considered one of the simplest bulbs to grow, you can make your life even simpler using a bulb planter. This Hand Bulb Planter has a serrated edge making it easy to penetrate even solid ground, whilst it’s depth indicator means you can be precise when planting for the perfectly placed blooms the following year.

As well as tulips coming in different shapes and sizes, they are available in a staggering range of colours, from the pale pastels of ‘Apricot Beauty’ through to the vibrant ‘Purple Prince’ and the stunning ‘Grand Perfection’ which resembles the most famous (and expensive) tulips from the 17th century ‘Semper Augustus’.  

Tulips are happy to fully open as they reside in a vase indoors, so your mum will be able to enjoy their shape and colour for between 5 to 10 days after you have gifted them - keeping them in a cool space and topping the vase up with fresh water will help with their longevity. 

Roses / Rosa Rubiginosa

Although we think of roses as romantic and associated with Valentine's Day, roses are the most popular flower in the UK and are a perfect choice for Mother’s Day, with roses symbolising love and respect for your mother. 

When selecting roses for your mum - it could be for a bouquet or as a rose bush which she can add to her garden and enjoy year after year - consider some of those varieties which have been named after ‘mum’, such as:

• ‘Mum in a Million’ – We love the profusion of large, scented blooms this rose produces throughout the summer months. It’s also ideal for cutting and arranging in a vase, as the blooms last for ages.
• ‘My Lovely Mum’ – Also known as ‘Keep Smiling’, which feels apt for many mothers. This hybrid tea rose has large, golden-yellow blooms that appear all through summer and into autumn.
• ‘Mother’s Love’ – With a strong, sweet fragrance, these elegant roses open from soft white to pink at the centre of each bloom, beautifully complemented by deep green foliage.
• ‘Loving Mum’ – With vibrant orange blooms featuring exquisitely scalloped edges and a delicate scent, this hybrid tea rose flowers from June through to late autumn. Being disease-resistant, it’s also easy to care for.

Our Perfect Purchase to Protect Your Mum From Garden Prickles

You might think that rose bushes have thorns to protect their beautiful blooms, but in fact, they have prickles to protect their leaves from animals which might eat them, such as deer or rabbits.

If your mum is a rose grower, then a pair of Rose Print Gauntlet Gloves will protect her as she gardens - and at the same time, these gloves featuring a rose design will remind your mum of the bouquet you gave her on Mother’s Day.

Lilies / Lilium

With its’ incredibly large blooms, over 2000 varieties and immense range of colours - from the pure white of the beautiful ‘Casa Blanca’ lily, to pretty pink oriental lilies like ‘Stargazer’ and the boldness of the asiatic ‘Forever Susan’ lily - when choosing a lily, you will be able to match a bloom to compliment your mother on her special day perfectly.

Rich in symbolism, lilies are associated with purity, motherhood and renewal, with white lilies being ideal for new mums or soon-to-be mothers. If you want to show your admiration and appreciation of your mother - or anyone in your life who represents a motherly role - then pink lilies will portray this admirably. Or go for orange lilies when you want to convey deep respect and pride in your mother.

The other thing to consider when selecting lilies for a Mother’s Day bouquet is their fragrance which can be used to freshen the space in which their vase is placed. Many lilies have a scent, with some blooms having stronger scents than others - for example ‘Stargazer’ has a strong, sweet scent whilst the oriental roselilies, such as ‘Natalia’ or ‘Editha’, have a softer, lighter scent to compliment their double blooms.

Chrysanthemums / Chrysanthus

We have to travel to the southern hemisphere and Australia to find the perfectly named Mother’s Day flower - the ‘mum’ - otherwise known as the chrysanthemum. Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May in Australia and New Zealand, just when many varieties of the ‘mums’ will be in abundance, with flower farms ramping up production at this crucial time - a typical Tasmanian farm picks 20,000 bunches of chrysanthemums for Mother’s Day.

Classically beautiful, chrysanthemums look lovely on their own or in a mixed bouquet and are long lasting cut flowers - with 2 to 3 weeks expected, longer with some varieties and even longer if you take care of your cut blooms. You can easily extend the life of chrysanthemums - or any cut flowers - by replacing the water to keep it fresh, re-cutting the stems and adding flower food to the water. Plus, flowers will last longer in cooler rooms compared to warm ones so deciding where to place a vase of flowers will shorten or lengthen the life of the blooms.

Chrysanthemums come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and colours - it’s estimated there are over 20,000 varieties available - making it easy for you to find the ones to perfectly match your mum. From the deep rose colour of the smallest chrysanthemums, ‘Small Wonder’ through to the splendour of the giant blooms of ‘Homecoming’ with their 20cm diameter blooms, the official Mother’s Day flower in Australia packs a punch and makes it simple to celebrate the character of your mother.

Our Perfect Purchase for Mums With Blooms to Pick

When your mum is a prolific gardener, she is likely to be cutting blooms from her garden to bring indoors to decorate her home. Why not make this task simpler for her with a Traditional Wooden Trug? It's perfectly shaped to hold long-stemmed flowers and is easy to carry without damaging the blooms.

Inspire Your Gift-Giving This Mother’s Day

This blog post has been created using personal knowledge, insights from conversations with other gardeners and manufacturers in the gardening industry, and by drawing on information from gardening magazines, books, and online resources. We aim to be as informative and accurate as possible—but if you spot a mistake, please remember we’re only human!

We’d also love to hear your thoughts on this topic. We’re continually learning about plants and gardens, and we believe the best way to grow is by sharing each other’s expertise and know-how.

Looking for more inspiration and advice? Check out our Mother’s Day Gift Guide for thoughtful ideas to make her day extra special!