Bonita Springs runs on two calendars, and the no-occasion flowers here follow them precisely. Somewhere around the first week of November the driveways fill, the shutters come off the lanais, and a few thousand houses that have been sealed since spring get opened again — and the most-ordered unprompted bouquet in this city is a welcome-back arrangement sitting on a kitchen island when somebody walks in from a two-day drive down Interstate 75. Then in April the reverse happens: the safe-travels bouquet, the goodbye-until-November flowers sent between friends who will not see each other for half a year. Neither of those has a card aisle and neither shows up on a holiday calendar, which is exactly why they matter. If you have been in a bridge group, a golf group, a church circle or a book club with somebody for fifteen winters, the week they arrive and the week they leave are the two dates you know. A bouquet on either one lands harder than anything sent on a birthday, because nobody else thinks to send it.
The recipients who never get flowers here are worth naming, because in a seasonal city they are a specific list. The neighbor who walks past your closed house every week in August and texts you a photo when a branch comes down. The house-watch service or property manager who opens the place, runs the taps and airs it out before you land — an entire local industry that exists because half the housing stock sits empty for six months. The woman who has cleaned the same condo on Hickory Boulevard for eleven years. The dog sitter who takes the terrier for the three weeks you are in Michigan for a grandchild's graduation. The club staff at Bonita Bay, Pelican Landing, Palmira, Spanish Wells, Worthington or Bonita National who know every member's name and get thanked at Christmas and never in March. None of these relationships has an occasion attached, which is precisely the argument for sending something when there is no reason at all. Put the person's role on the card if they might not recognize your name out of context — the house on the corner, unit 704, the Thursday afternoon group.
Practically, a just-because delivery in Bonita Springs is governed by two things: heat and gates. On heat, nothing should be left on a step in full sun between June and September, so ask for a hand-to-hand delivery and name a shaded entry or a screened lanai if the house has one. In a condo the lobby or front desk is air-conditioned and the walkway is not. On gates, most residential addresses in 34134 and 34135 sit behind one — Bonita Bay, Pelican Landing, The Colony, Palmira, Spanish Wells, Vasari, Worthington, Bonita National, the Brooks communities off Coconut Road, and the Barefoot Beach entrance on the west side. A manned gate will pass a runner through on a resident's name that matches the list; a keypad with an empty booth will not, so include a phone number for the recipient and the community name along with the unit, villa or lot number. This is the single most useful thing you can put in a delivery note anywhere in this city, and it costs you five seconds.