You are on a florist’s website — ours or anyone’s — and you see a product called a “sympathy spray.” You have a general sense that this involves flowers and sadness, but what is a spray? Is it different from an arrangement? From a bouquet? From a wreath? You click on the description and it says something about “one-sided design on an easel” and “seasonal stems with premium greens,” and now you have more questions than when you started.
This is normal. Florist terminology is a strange, informal, only-partly-standardized vocabulary that developed over decades inside an industry that mostly communicates with itself. Nobody teaches it to customers. Nobody puts a glossary on the checkout page. You are just supposed to know — or guess — or call the shop and ask, which is what we always recommend anyway.
But today, we are going to explain it. All of it. The words, the distinctions, the history, and the moments where even florists disagree about what something means.
💐 The Big Three: Arrangement, Bouquet, and Spray
These are the three words that cause the most confusion, because they sound interchangeable but are not.
Arrangement: A design made in a container — typically a vase, basket, or ceramic pot. The flowers are cut, placed into floral foam or directly into water, and the container is part of the gift. When you order “an arrangement,” you are getting flowers plus the vessel they sit in. The recipient puts it down somewhere and it is ready to display. No additional vase needed.
Bouquet: A hand-tied bundle of stems, wrapped in paper or cellophane, usually not in a container. A bouquet is what you carry. It is what the person at the farmers’ market hands you. It is what you bring to a dinner party wrapped in kraft paper. A bouquet needs a vase at the other end — the recipient (or you) will need to unwrap it, trim the stems, and put it in water. Bouquets are typically less expensive than arrangements because you are not paying for the container or the design labor of arranging in a vessel.
Spray: A flat-backed, one-sided floral design that is meant to be displayed against something — usually on an easel, on a casket lid, or against a wall. A spray is designed to be viewed from the front. The back is flat and unfinished (often backed with cardboard or floral foam). Sprays are the primary format for funeral and sympathy flowers — the large pieces you see at the front of a service on standing easels.
The word “spray” comes from the shape — it refers to the way the flowers fan out from a central point, like a spray of water. In older florist language, a “spray” also referred to a small branch of flowers (a spray of orchids, a spray of baby’s breath), which is where spray roses get their name — roses that grow in clusters on a single branching stem rather than one bloom per stem.
🕊️ Sympathy Terminology
Sympathy and funeral flowers have the most specialized vocabulary in the industry, because there are many distinct product types, each with a specific purpose. If you recently read our piece on funeral flower etiquette, here are the formal terms behind those products:
- Standing spray: A large spray (typically 4–6 feet tall) mounted on a standing easel. Displayed at the front of a service near the casket. Traditional shapes include fan, diamond, and shield. Ordered by close family, close friends, or organizations.
- Casket spray: A long, horizontal arrangement designed to rest on top of a closed casket. Typically ordered by immediate family. Full casket sprays cover the entire lid; half casket sprays cover the lower half (for services with an open upper half).
- Easel: A freestanding tripod (usually metal or wood) that holds a spray, wreath, or other tribute piece upright for display. The easel is not part of the floral design — it is the stand. Florists typically include an easel with any standing spray order.
- Tribute piece: A general term for any large sympathy floral design — sprays, wreaths, crosses, hearts, or custom shapes. “Tribute” distinguishes large service pieces from smaller sympathy arrangements or plants sent to the home.
- Lid piece: A smaller arrangement designed for a half-open casket, placed on the closed lower portion of the lid. More compact than a full casket spray.
- Inside piece: A small corsage or nosegay placed inside the casket, near the deceased. Ordered by very close family. Intimate and not widely known outside the industry.
🌹 Rose Terminology
Roses have their own mini-vocabulary, because they are the most commercially important cut flower in the world and the grading and sizing conventions are specific:
- Standard rose: A rose that grows one bloom per stem. This is what most people picture when they think “rose” — a single large flower on a long, straight stem. The roses in a “dozen red roses” are standard roses.
- Spray rose: A rose variety that produces multiple smaller blooms on a branching stem. The individual flowers are smaller than standard roses but each stem has 3–7 blooms. Spray roses add texture and volume to arrangements and are popular in wedding work.
- Garden rose: A rose variety with a large, open, many-petaled bloom — more lush and fragrant than a standard hybrid tea rose. Garden roses (like David Austin varieties) are premium stems that cost significantly more than standard roses. They are the “peony-shaped” roses that show up on Pinterest boards.
- Guard petals: The outermost petals on a rose bloom, which are often bruised, discolored, or slightly damaged from shipping. Florists remove guard petals during processing to reveal the pristine bloom beneath. This is not damage — it is normal, and the rose underneath is perfect.
- Open: When a florist says a rose is “open,” they mean the bloom has unfurled beyond the bud stage and the petals are spreading. A partially open rose is ideal for most arrangements. A fully open rose is at the end of its display life. A tight bud will open over 2–3 days in water.
- Stem length: Roses are graded by stem length — 40 cm, 50 cm, 60 cm, 70 cm, and 80 cm+ (long-stemmed). Longer stems are more expensive because they require more growing time and the blooms are typically larger. “Long-stemmed roses” are usually 60 cm or longer.
🌼 Flower Type Terminology
Florists categorize flowers in an arrangement by their role in the design, not just by species:
- Focal flower: The star of the arrangement — the largest, most prominent bloom that draws the eye. Roses, lilies, sunflowers, peonies, and hydrangeas are common focal flowers.
- Secondary (or filler) flower: Smaller blooms that fill space between focal flowers and add color and texture. Alstroemeria, carnations, stock, snapdragons, and spray roses are common secondaries.
- Accent flower: Small, textural blooms used sparingly for visual interest — hypericum berries, wax flower, asters, solidago (goldenrod), or craspedia (billy balls).
- Greenery (or foliage): The leaves, ferns, eucalyptus, salal, ruscus, and other non-flowering plant material that creates the framework of the arrangement. Greenery is not an afterthought — it is the skeleton that makes everything else work.
- Standard mum vs. spray mum: Same distinction as standard vs. spray roses. A standard mum (or “disbudded mum”) is one large bloom per stem — the big, round football mums. A spray mum has multiple smaller blooms per stem — daisies, buttons, and cushion mums are all spray types.
🏭 Industry and Business Terms
These are the behind-the-scenes words that affect how flowers get from grower to your door:
- Wire service (or wire-in/wire-out): A network that connects florists across the country so orders can be placed in one city and fulfilled by a florist in another. FTD, Teleflora, and 1-800-Flowers are the big ones. When you order flowers for your mom in Tualatin from your apartment in Chicago, the order is “wired” to a local florist near her. The sending florist and the wire service both take a cut, which is why wire-service orders sometimes yield smaller arrangements than ordering directly from a local shop.
- Order gatherer (or relay service): An online company that takes flower orders but does not make or deliver flowers. They relay orders to local florists for fulfillment, taking a substantial percentage of the order value. Many customers do not realize they are ordering from a middleman. The arrangement they receive is often smaller than expected because the local florist is working with what is left after the relay company takes its fee.
- Designer’s choice: An order where the customer specifies a price, color palette, and occasion but lets the florist choose the specific flowers. This almost always produces a better arrangement than a rigid recipe order, because the florist can use whatever is freshest, most beautiful, and best-priced that day. If you trust your florist, designer’s choice is the way.
- Substitution: When a specific flower in an order is not available and the florist replaces it with a similar flower of equal or greater value. Substitution is standard practice in the industry — flower availability changes daily based on season, weather, and supply chain disruptions. A good florist substitutes thoughtfully, maintaining the color palette and overall feel.
- Stem count: The number of individual flower stems in an arrangement. Some shops price by stem count; others price by overall design. Stem count is not always the best measure of value — three large hydrangeas can fill a vase that would need 20 carnation stems to look full.
✂️ Design and Technique Terms
- Floral foam (Oasis): A green, water-absorbing foam block that florists insert stems into to hold them in place. “Oasis” is a brand name that became generic (like Kleenex). Foam allows precise stem placement but is not biodegradable, which has led many florists to explore foam-free design techniques using chicken wire, pin frogs, or tape grids.
- Pin frog (or kenzan): A heavy metal disc with sharp pins that sits at the bottom of a vase. Stems are impaled on the pins, holding them in place without foam. The original Japanese ikebana tool, now increasingly popular with Western florists who want to avoid foam.
- Tape grid: A grid of clear floral tape stretched across the mouth of a vase in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Stems are inserted through the grid openings, which holds them upright and spaced. A simple, foam-free technique that works well for loose, natural-style arrangements.
- Wiring: Inserting thin floral wire through or alongside a stem to add support, control the angle of a flower head, or extend a short stem. Common in corsage and boutonniere work, where flowers need to stay in exact positions.
- Conditioning: The process of preparing fresh stems for arrangement — recutting at an angle, removing lower leaves, hydrating in clean water with preservative, and letting the flowers drink for several hours before designing. Proper conditioning is the single biggest factor in vase life.
- Processing: The broader term for everything that happens to a flower between arrival at the shop and use in a design — unpacking, inspecting for damage, removing guard petals, stripping thorns, conditioning, and storing in the cooler.
- Cooler: The walk-in refrigerator (typically 34–38°F) where florists store processed stems and finished arrangements. The cooler slows metabolism, reduces water loss, and keeps flowers in a state of suspended freshness until they are needed. Every working flower shop has one; it is the most important piece of equipment in the building.
💰 Pricing and Sizing Terms
- Standard / Deluxe / Premium: Most florist websites offer arrangements in three size tiers. Standard is the base design. Deluxe adds more stems, larger blooms, or premium flowers. Premium is the fullest, most luxurious version. The difference between tiers is typically $15–$25 per step.
- Upgrade: Adding premium flowers (garden roses instead of standard roses, peonies instead of carnations) or increasing the size of an arrangement beyond the listed price. Upgrades are always available — just ask.
- Market price: Some premium flowers (peonies, ranunculus, certain orchids) fluctuate in wholesale cost depending on season and availability. “Market price” means the florist will quote a current price based on what the wholesaler is charging that week.
🏷️ Terms Customers Use That Florists Interpret Differently
This is the fun part — the words that mean one thing to you and something slightly different to us:
- “Simple.” When a customer says “I want something simple,” they usually mean elegant and not overwhelming. When a florist hears “simple,” they worry the customer means cheap. If you want understated elegance, say “clean” or “minimal” or “not too fussy.” We will know exactly what you mean.
- “Rustic.” To a customer: mason jars, burlap, wildflower vibes. To a florist: a design style that is actually quite specific and requires different mechanics than a traditional arrangement. We can do it — just know that “rustic” is a real aesthetic choice, not a synonym for “casual.”
- “Big.” Customers say “I want it to be big” more than anything else. But “big” means different things — big in height? In width? In stem count? In visual impact? A bouquet of 50 carnations is big. A single stem of curly willow in a tall vase is also big. Tell us what kind of big you mean, and ideally, give us a budget. We will maximize the impact.
- “Wildflowers.” Almost nobody who asks for wildflowers wants actual wildflowers (which are scraggly, small, and fade fast). They want the wildflower look — loose, unstructured, natural-feeling, with a mix of colors and textures. We translate “wildflowers” into garden-style design with chamomile, wax flower, veronica, stock, and seasonal blooms. It looks wild. It lasts a week.
🌿 Why This Matters
You do not need to memorize florist terminology to order flowers. That is our job. But knowing the basics — the difference between an arrangement and a bouquet, what a spray is, what designer’s choice means, why substitution is normal — makes you a more confident buyer. It helps you communicate what you want. And it helps us give you exactly that.
If you are ever unsure about a term on our site, call us. We would rather spend two minutes explaining what a standing spray is than have you guess and order the wrong thing. That is what a local florist is for — the conversation, the guidance, and the care that a dropdown menu cannot provide.
Browse our arrangements, plants, and gifts. Same-day delivery to Tualatin, Sherwood, Lake Oswego, Wilsonville, Tigard, and the Portland metro. Now you know what all the words mean. 📖