Anniversary Flowers by Year: 1st Through 60th (NYC Florist's Complete Guide)
TJ Flowers & Events
By the TJ Flowers & Events design team — Manhattan florist since 1988.
Why a Year-by-Year Flower Guide Matters
Every wedding anniversary has a traditional flower assignment. Most people know the first anniversary is paper and the 50th is gold — but the flower tradition is older, more romantic, and more useful for actually buying a meaningful gift. Carnations for the first year. Violets for the ninth. Roses for the fifteenth and the fiftieth. Each flower carries meaning, and sending the right one signals you knew the year — and made the effort.
This guide covers the traditional flower for every anniversary year from 1 to 30, plus every five-year milestone after that through 60. Each entry includes the traditional flower, what it means, our florist's modern interpretation, and price guidance for NYC delivery. After 38 years designing anniversary flowers from our Upper East Side studio, we have opinions on which traditions deserve fidelity and which deserve a thoughtful upgrade.
Year 1 — Carnation
Meaning: Pure, deep love. Devotion. The carnation is the flower of new married love — affordable, cheerful, and surprisingly long-lasting (10-14 days).
Modern interpretation: A bouquet of all-pink carnations is sweet but reads young. We prefer 25-30 deep crimson carnations in a single tonal arrangement — sophisticated, dramatic, and a knowing nod to the tradition.
NYC arrangement: $150-$300. Card message: "Year one. The first of many."
Year 2 — Lily of the Valley
Meaning: Return of happiness. Sweetness. Lily of the valley is a fragrant, delicate spring flower — Kate Middleton famously carried it in her wedding bouquet.
Modern interpretation: Lily of the valley is seasonal (April-May) and expensive. If you're sending in season, a small posy of lily of the valley with white roses is exquisite. Off-season, substitute with white sweet peas or muguet-fragrance freesia.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400 (in season). Card message: "Two years and I still can't believe my luck."
Year 3 — Sunflower
Meaning: Adoration. Loyalty. The sunflower follows the sun the way you've followed each other for three years.
Modern interpretation: A bouquet of all-sunflowers is a hard look in a NYC apartment. We do a tonal autumnal arrangement — sunflowers, gold dahlias, butter-yellow garden roses, and bronze foliage. Sun-warmth without the gas-station-bouquet vibe.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400. Card message: "Three years of you, my sun."
Year 4 — Hydrangea
Meaning: Heartfelt emotions. Gratitude. Hydrangea blooms are massive, voluminous, and unmistakable.
Modern interpretation: Hydrangea works beautifully on its own — 5-7 stems of antique blue or blush hydrangea in a low ceramic vessel. Or pair with garden roses for a romantic English-garden look.
NYC arrangement: $200-$450. Card message: "Four years. Endless gratitude."
Year 5 — Daisy
Meaning: Innocence, new beginnings, loyal love. Five years is a milestone — wood is the traditional non-flower gift.
Modern interpretation: All-white daisies are sweet but read childlike. We do white gerbera daisies mixed with white garden roses and white anemones — clean, modern, with the daisy as a focal accent rather than the dominant flower.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400. Card message: "Five years. Still the easiest yes I've ever given."
Year 6 — Calla Lily
Meaning: Magnificent beauty. Calla lilies are sculptural and architectural — a sophisticated flower for a couple six years in.
Modern interpretation: 12-18 white calla lilies in a tall cylindrical glass vessel. Or for drama, deep purple "Schwarzwalder" callas in a brass urn. Stunning either way.
NYC arrangement: $250-$500. Card message: "Six. And more beautiful every year."
Year 7 — Freesia
Meaning: Trust, friendship, faithfulness. Freesia is delicate, fragrant, and undervalued.
Modern interpretation: A garden bouquet of mixed freesia (white, butter, blush, deep purple) with roses and ranunculus. The fragrance fills a NYC apartment for a week.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400. Card message: "Seven years. Still my best friend."
Year 8 — Lilac
Meaning: First emotions of love. Lilac is the most evocative flower in the spring florist's repertoire — fragrance is the entire point.
Modern interpretation: Lilac is highly seasonal (April-May only). When in season, an armful of mixed white and lavender lilac in a tall stoneware vessel is one of the most romantic arrangements in our entire repertoire. Off-season, substitute with sweet pea, lisianthus, and lavender stock.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600 (in season). Card message: "Eight years and the way you walked into the room is still the same feeling."
Year 9 — Poppy
Meaning: Imagination, dreams. Poppies are notoriously short-lived as cut flowers — beautiful, ephemeral, fragile.
Modern interpretation: Cut poppies last 3-4 days, which is impractical. We do an arrangement themed around poppies — Iceland poppies (which last longer) with ranunculus, anemones, and tulips in a similar palette. Or send a potted poppy plant (papaver) the couple can grow in a window box.
NYC arrangement: $200-$450. Card message: "Nine years of dreaming together."
Year 10 — Daffodil
Meaning: Rebirth, new beginnings, joy. Ten years is a major milestone — the traditional gift is tin or aluminum, but the flower is daffodil.
Modern interpretation: A bouquet of mixed daffodils (white, butter-yellow, peach-trumpet) with white tulips and forsythia. Spring-themed regardless of season — a "ten years and still in our springtime" gesture. Off-season, substitute with white narcissus and ranunculus.
NYC arrangement: $250-$500. Card message: "Ten years. Still my favorite spring."
Year 11 — Tulip
Meaning: Perfect love. Tulips are universally loved — modern, clean, available year-round.
Modern interpretation: 50 French tulips (single color — peach, blush, or pure white) in a clear glass cylinder. Or mixed parrot tulips with ranunculus and anemones for a more romantic English-garden version.
NYC arrangement: $200-$450. Card message: "Eleven years. Still perfect."
Year 12 — Peony
Meaning: Romance, prosperity, a happy marriage. Peonies are the most-requested romance flower in our entire studio.
Modern interpretation: 24 garden peonies in a single color — coral charm, blush sarah bernhardt, or white duchesse de nemours — in a hand-thrown ceramic vessel. Peonies are spring-only (May-June). Off-season, substitute with garden roses + ranunculus styled "peony-style."
NYC arrangement: $400-$800. Card message: "Twelve years. Everything I prayed for."
Year 13 — Hollyhock / Chrysanthemum
Meaning: Ambition, longevity. Hollyhock is uncommon as a cut flower; chrysanthemum is the practical alternative.
Modern interpretation: Skip standard supermarket "mums" entirely. Use Japanese spider chrysanthemums or football mums in a tonal arrangement with ornamental kale and bronze foliage. Or for a softer look, garden roses and lisianthus in autumnal palette.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400. Card message: "Thirteen and lucky."
Year 14 — Dahlia
Meaning: Lasting bond, dignity, commitment. Dahlias are the queen of late-summer flowers.
Modern interpretation: Mixed café au lait dahlias (the famous blush-mocha variety) with garden roses, ranunculus, and trailing eucalyptus. One of our most-requested arrangements. Dahlias are seasonal (July-October). Off-season, substitute with garden roses and ranunculus.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600 (in season). Card message: "Fourteen. The best chapter so far."
Year 15 — Rose
Meaning: Love. Just love. Fifteen years is the rose anniversary — and the modern gift is also crystal.
Modern interpretation: 50 long-stem garden roses (David Austin "Juliet" if you want the most romantic, or "Quicksand" champagne roses for elegance, or deep red "Black Magic" for classic) in a hand-thrown ceramic vessel. Fifteen years deserves abundance.
NYC arrangement: $400-$1,000. Card message: "Fifteen years of roses, and you're still the best one."
Year 16 — Stargazer Lily
Meaning: Ambition, devotion, prosperity. Stargazer lilies are dramatic — fragrance fills a room.
Modern interpretation: Stargazer lilies are intensely fragrant — appropriate for some, overwhelming for others. We often substitute with oriental lilies in white or blush, which are similarly dramatic but less perfumed. Pair with garden roses and eucalyptus.
NYC arrangement: $250-$500. Card message: "Sixteen years and you're still my favorite person to come home to."
Year 17 — Carnation (revisited)
Meaning: Like year 1, deep love and devotion — now seventeen years deeper.
Modern interpretation: Send the same arrangement you sent in year one, with a card noting it. The repetition is the gift. Or upgrade to mixed garden roses and carnations in the same tonal palette.
NYC arrangement: $200-$400. Card message: "Seventeen years ago I sent you carnations. Here's another bunch."
Year 18 — Apricot blossom / Garden flowers
Meaning: Timid love, gentleness. Apricot blossom is a stretch outside California — substitute with peach garden roses and apricot ranunculus.
Modern interpretation: A peach-tonal arrangement: peach garden roses, apricot ranunculus, butter-yellow anemones, peach freesia in a stoneware vessel.
NYC arrangement: $250-$500. Card message: "Eighteen years and you're still the most beautiful thing in any room."
Year 19 — Bronze / Garden roses
Meaning: No traditional flower — bronze is the gift. We assign garden roses.
Modern interpretation: Bronze-toned garden roses (caramel antike, koko loko, or terracotta) with copper foliage and antique brunia. Tonal, sophisticated, autumn-warmth.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600. Card message: "Nineteen. Better every year."
Year 20 — Aster / Day Lily
Meaning: Patience, elegance. Twenty years is china (traditional) and platinum (modern) — the flower assignments vary.
Modern interpretation: A late-summer garden bouquet — mixed asters, daylilies, garden roses, dahlias in a tonal palette. Or skip the assignment and send 30 garden roses in a single luxurious color. Twenty years is its own statement.
NYC arrangement: $500-$1,000. Card message: "Twenty years. Still the only one for me."
Year 21 — Iris
Meaning: Faith, hope, wisdom, courage. Iris is the messenger flower in mythology.
Modern interpretation: Tall blue-purple Dutch iris in a tall ceramic vessel — sculptural and architectural. Or for a softer look, bearded iris (in season — May-June) with garden roses and lisianthus.
NYC arrangement: $250-$500. Card message: "Twenty-one years of faith in us."
Year 22 — Water lily
Meaning: Purity, enlightenment. Water lilies don't survive well as cut flowers.
Modern interpretation: Substitute with white lotus pods, white anthurium, and white phalaenopsis orchids in a low ikebana-style ceramic dish. The water-flower aesthetic without the impossibility.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600. Card message: "Twenty-two years. Still my still water."
Year 23 — Iris (revisited) / Air plant
Meaning: No specific traditional flower. We default to a celebratory arrangement.
Modern interpretation: A garden roses + ranunculus arrangement in the wedding's original color palette (if you remember it). Personal beats traditional in years without a specific assignment.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600. Card message: "Twenty-three years and counting."
Year 24 — Music box / Garden flowers
Modern interpretation: A celebratory garden bouquet in the couple's preferred palette. Personal preference over assignment at this point.
NYC arrangement: $300-$600. Card message: "Twenty-four years of you."
Year 25 — Iris / Silver — MAJOR MILESTONE
Meaning: A quarter century. Silver anniversary. The traditional flower is iris; the gift is silver.
Modern interpretation: 25 long-stem white roses (one for each year) in a hand-thrown silver-glazed ceramic vessel. Or for a more modern approach, an abundant silver-and-white arrangement: white garden roses, white phalaenopsis orchids, dusty miller, eucalyptus, silver brunia. Twenty-five deserves its own statement piece, not just "another bouquet."
NYC arrangement: $600-$1,500. Card message: "Twenty-five years. The best decision I ever made."
Year 30 — Lily / Pearl — MAJOR MILESTONE
Meaning: Three decades. Pearl anniversary.
Modern interpretation: 30 white casablanca lilies in a tall fluted ceramic vessel. Dramatic, fragrant, anniversary-worthy. Or pair white lilies with cream garden roses and white phalaenopsis orchids for a layered, abundant statement piece.
NYC arrangement: $700-$1,800. Card message: "Thirty years. Still us."
Year 35 — Coral / Garden Roses
Modern interpretation: An all-coral garden bouquet — coral charm peonies (in season), coral garden roses, coral ranunculus, peach lisianthus. Warm, abundant, celebratory.
NYC arrangement: $500-$1,200. Card message: "Thirty-five years and you still take my breath away."
Year 40 — Ruby / Red Roses — MAJOR MILESTONE
Meaning: Forty years. Ruby anniversary. Red is the color.
Modern interpretation: 40 deep-red garden roses (Black Magic, Hearts, or Black Baccara — the darkest reds available) in a hand-thrown ruby-glazed or oxblood ceramic vessel. Or a more layered ruby palette: deep red roses, burgundy dahlias (in season), plum calla lilies, dark foliage.
NYC arrangement: $800-$2,000. Card message: "Forty years. Still madly."
Year 45 — Sapphire / Blue Hydrangea
Modern interpretation: An abundant blue hydrangea arrangement — antique blue and lavender hydrangea with white garden roses and dusty miller in a tall stoneware vessel.
NYC arrangement: $600-$1,500. Card message: "Forty-five years. The luckiest."
Year 50 — Yellow Roses & Violets / Gold — MAJOR MILESTONE
Meaning: Half a century. Golden anniversary. The traditional flower combination is yellow roses and violets.
Modern interpretation: 50 yellow garden roses (David Austin "Charlotte" or "Golden Celebration") with violets at the base and trailing ivy. Or for a more contemporary take, an all-gold arrangement: champagne garden roses, butter-yellow ranunculus, gold dahlias, with gilded olive branches and brass-toned vessels. Fifty years deserves the most lavish arrangement we make. Many of our 50th anniversary clients order an arrangement for the dining table the morning of, AND a smaller version for the bedroom — so they wake up to flowers and dine surrounded by them.
NYC arrangement: $1,200-$3,500. Card message: "Fifty years. Every single one was the right answer."
Year 55 — Emerald / Green Garden
Modern interpretation: A green-and-white garden arrangement — green hydrangea, white garden roses, white anemones, ferns, eucalyptus, ornamental kale. Sophisticated and celebratory.
NYC arrangement: $700-$1,500. Card message: "Fifty-five. Still our greenest years."
Year 60 — Diamond / Lily of the Valley — MAJOR MILESTONE
Meaning: Six decades. Diamond anniversary. The flower is lily of the valley (revisited from year 2).
Modern interpretation: A dramatic all-white arrangement of white garden roses, white phalaenopsis orchids, lily of the valley accents (in season), eucalyptus and dusty miller in a hand-thrown white-glazed ceramic vessel. Diamond-clear, abundant, statement-making.
NYC arrangement: $1,500-$4,000. Card message: "Sixty years. Still the best 'I do' I ever heard."
Pricing Summary by Milestone
| Anniversary | Recommended Spend |
|---|---|
| Years 1-5 (early) | $150–$400 |
| Years 6-10 (settling in) | $200–$500 |
| Years 11-19 (deepening) | $250–$600 |
| Year 20 milestone | $500–$1,000 |
| Year 25 (silver) | $600–$1,500 |
| Year 30 (pearl) | $700–$1,800 |
| Year 40 (ruby) | $800–$2,000 |
| Year 50 (gold) | $1,200–$3,500 |
| Year 60 (diamond) | $1,500–$4,000 |
| Manhattan delivery | $15 |
| Outer borough delivery | $25–$45 |
Card Message Templates by Year
- Year 1: "Year one. The first of many."
- Year 5: "Five years. Still the easiest yes I've ever given."
- Year 10: "Ten years. Still my favorite spring."
- Year 15: "Fifteen years of roses, and you're still the best one."
- Year 20: "Twenty years. Still the only one for me."
- Year 25: "Twenty-five years. The best decision I ever made."
- Year 30: "Thirty years. Still us."
- Year 40: "Forty years. Still madly."
- Year 50: "Fifty years. Every single one was the right answer."
- Year 60: "Sixty years. Still the best 'I do' I ever heard."
Same-Day Anniversary Delivery in Manhattan
Most anniversaries get remembered the morning of. We get it. Our Upper East Side studio offers same-day delivery to Manhattan with a 3 PM cutoff. For anniversary milestones, we recommend ordering 24-48 hours ahead so we can source the specific specialty flowers (lily of the valley, café au lait dahlias, garden roses by name).
How TJ Flowers Handles Anniversary Orders
Anniversary orders get extra care. We confirm the year, the recipient's name, the card message, and the delivery address by phone if anything is unclear. For milestone years (10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60) we will often suggest an upgraded vessel or a slightly expanded arrangement at no extra charge — milestones deserve the gesture. For 50th and 60th, we recommend the bedroom-and-table pairing: small bedside arrangement to wake up to, statement piece for the dining table.
To order an anniversary arrangement, please contact our design team or call (212) 628-1214.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the traditional flower for the 1st wedding anniversary?
The carnation. It symbolizes pure, deep love. We recommend a single-tonal arrangement of crimson or blush carnations rather than mixed colors — more sophisticated than the standard florist version of the tradition.
What is the traditional flower for the 25th anniversary?
The iris (with silver as the gift). We often substitute with 25 long-stem white roses — one for each year — in a silver-glazed ceramic vessel. The "one rose per year" gesture is meaningful and beautiful at silver anniversary scale.
What is the traditional flower for the 50th wedding anniversary?
Yellow roses and violets, with gold as the gift. For the 50th anniversary we recommend 50 yellow garden roses with violets at the base. This is one of our most-ordered milestone arrangements.
What flower for the 60th wedding anniversary?
Lily of the valley (with diamond as the gift). Lily of the valley is highly seasonal (April-May) and expensive. We typically design an all-white statement arrangement with white roses, phalaenopsis orchids, and lily of the valley accents when in season.
How much should I spend on anniversary flowers?
Early years (1-10): $150-$500 is appropriate. Mid years (11-24): $250-$600. Milestone years scale up: $500-$1,500 for 25th (silver), $1,200-$3,500 for 50th (gold), $1,500-$4,000 for 60th (diamond). Match the gesture to the year.
Can I send anniversary flowers same-day in NYC?
Yes — order by 3 PM for Manhattan same-day delivery. For milestone years requiring specialty flowers (lily of the valley, café au lait dahlias, named David Austin garden roses), order 24-48 hours ahead so we can source them properly.
What if my anniversary year doesn't have a famous flower assignment?
Use the spirit of the year — early years get freshness and color, middle years get sophistication and intentionality, milestone years get abundance. Or send the flower from the wedding bouquet itself; that beats any modern assignment.
Is it appropriate for a husband to send flowers to himself / a wife to receive them?
Yes, of course. Anniversary flowers are most often sent from one spouse to the other — typically delivered to the home or to the recipient's office. We deliver to both with discretion.
Do you do recurring annual anniversary deliveries?
Yes. Many of our long-term clients have us on file with the anniversary date, the recipient, and the delivery address. We call a week ahead to confirm the year's arrangement. For milestone years we plan months in advance.
One Final Note
The flower assignment is a useful starting point, but the year doesn't matter as much as the fact that you remembered. A bouquet of any flower delivered on the right day with a thoughtful note will be received well. The flower tradition is a way to add depth and meaning — it is not a rule. Send what your spouse will love.
To order anniversary flowers, please contact our design team or call (212) 628-1214. We have designed anniversary arrangements for some couples for 30 years running. We would love to be part of yours.
