Send flowers to Dublin, north and south of the Liffey

Dublin covers more ground than most people sending flowers expect. The city council area alone is home to about 590,000 people, and the suburbs carry on into Fingal, South Dublin and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. A birthday bouquet in Drumcondra, flowers for a new baby at the Rotunda or a thank-you to a colleague in a Docklands office all work the same way: you pick the bouquet here, and a florist in Dublin makes it up and brings it to the door.

Dublin addresses: districts and Eircodes

The city's postal districts run from Dublin 1 to Dublin 24, with Dublin 6W in between. Odd numbers are on the northside of the Liffey and even numbers on the southside, with a couple of exceptions: the Phoenix Park is Dublin 8 even though it is north of the river, and Chapelizod is Dublin 20. Since 2015 every address has its own Eircode as well, and in the city it starts with the district, so an address in Dublin 1 begins with D01. Put the full Eircode on the order. A district such as Dublin 15 or Dublin 24 covers tens of thousands of homes, and the same street name often turns up in more than one suburb. For an apartment, add the block name, the apartment number and a mobile number the driver can ring at the door.

Flowers to Dublin's hospitals

Dublin has three maternity hospitals: the Rotunda on Parnell Square, the Coombe in Dublin 8 and the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street. The big adult hospitals include the Mater on Eccles Street, St James's, Beaumont, St Vincent's University Hospital and Tallaght University Hospital. Hospital groups across Ireland have been discouraging fresh flowers on wards, for hygiene reasons and because there is little room beside the bed. Ring the ward before you order. If flowers are not allowed, have them delivered to the patient's home for the day they are discharged.

Funerals in Dublin

Irish funerals happen quickly, usually two or three days after the death, so a wreath or spray for the service has to be ordered as soon as the death notice is published. Notices on RIP.ie give the funeral home, the church and the times, and some say "family flowers only", often with a charity for donations instead. Respect that wish and send a sympathy bouquet to the family home a week or two after the funeral, when the house has gone quiet.

Did you know? The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin were founded in 1795 and are free to visit; Richard Turner's Curvilinear Range of glasshouses there was completed in 1848.