What we found

We ordered bouquets to be delivered to a Wellington address, and the following week we ordered the same bouquets for delivery in Auckland.

We chose vibrant hand-tied bouquets in the size depicted on the website, so that we could make a fair comparison. And for each order we specified a delivery date and time (before midday).

Overall

Our expert assessor was generally pleased with the quality of the bouquets. She had checked flower prices before the assessments and considered all but one of the florists provided excellent value for money.

The Wildpoppies bouquet delivered to Wellington was a big disappointment. The florist had a second chance with an Auckland order, but failed to do noticeably better.

Ordering

This was straightforward on all the websites except www.eflower.co.nz. We placed our order for the Wellington delivery but when we got to the payment page the website wouldn't accept the order. We called the 0800 number and were told that there were problems with the site. These still hadn't been fixed when we placed our Auckland order the following week - and so both orders were finally done by phone.

eflower.co.nz told us that it had been updating its online payment and flower-selection processes. The site is temporarily closed but should be ready to take orders for Mother's Day next month.

Deliveries

Most websites passed the order to a local florist; but Wildpoppies chose to assemble the Wellington delivery in Auckland and send it by overnight courier. Big mistake. The flowers were left in a sealed carton at the door - they had no impact at all because you couldn't see them. The stems were encased in a plastic bag of water which had become full of sodden wrapping paper. And the flowers that were chosen (dahlias and roses) didn't stand up to this treatment. By the following day they were fully open and wilting.

Six bouquets arrived after midday. This just isn't good enough. Some missed the deadline by less than 30 minutes, but if you're going out for a celebration lunch they might as well be half-a-day late. (If there's no-one home the courier will leave your bouquet by the door.)

Extra costs

When you order through an online florist there's often a service charge on top of delivery. For seven of the florists, service and delivery came to $19 or more: that's around one-fifth of the total cost of the order. The two bouquets ordered through Interflora cost only $10 extra and Wildpoppies in Auckland was also cheap at $12 for a local delivery.

You can contact a florist directly and avoid online florists' handling charges - but the advantage of these websites is that you can view a wide selection and then make your choice.

The Wow! factor

Our expert was looking for bouquets that used wrapping materials, flower choice, design and colour to make an impact. She felt that, with a few exceptions, she'd be happy to receive the bouquets we ordered. The bouquets from Best of the Bunch, Juliette Florist and Flowers Rediscovered in Wellington and Matan Florist in Auckland definitely had the Wow! factor.

Materials

The flowers and foliage should be fresh so they can last for several days and the wrapping materials should display them at their best. Care instructions and flower preservative should be provided. Most florists supplied good-quality flowers and foliage but not all included care instructions or products.

Workmanship

The bouquet shouldn't fall apart when you unwrap it. And it shouldn't damage you or your clothing. So the flower stems should be spiralled and securely tied, thorns should be removed from rose stems, and the stamens removed from lilies. Stems that come into contact with water should have their foliage removed, because rotting leaves encourage bacteria and shorten the life of the bouquet. Our assessments say where florists failed to meet these standards.

Matching the photo

In most cases, the bouquets were a good match to the photo on the website. In our assessments we've listed the website and the name of the bouquet we ordered - so you can check the likeness for yourself.

Our expert assessor

Coral Macdonald (right) assessed the flowers for us. She's a floristry consultant and tutor who is a moderator and accredited assessor for New Zealand Professional Florists, and a practising florist.