Romantic flowers in Richmond

Romance orders are the least forgiving thing a florist does, because the recipient is almost always surprised and the window is almost always narrow. Richmond's version has a shape of its own. The apartment drop dominates: the Fan's subdivided rowhouses in 23220, the Museum District's small buildings in 23221, the converted warehouses of Scott's Addition in 23230, the loft conversions across the river in Manchester, and the newer buildings along the Canal Walk and East Main. These are buzzer-and-vestibule addresses, which is exactly where romantic deliveries go wrong — a courier who cannot get past the front door leaves a bouquet in a lobby, and a surprise dies in a lobby. Include the unit number, any gate or buzzer code, and a mobile number for the recipient unless secrecy is the entire point, in which case leave a number for yourself instead. The second Richmond pattern is the proposal, and the city has a short list of places people choose: Libby Hill Park above the bend where the view down the James gave Richmond its name, Maymont's Japanese and Italian gardens, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Lakeside Avenue, Belle Isle and the pedestrian bridge out to it, Brown's Island and the Canal Walk, the pond at Byrd Park, and the overlook from the Boulevard Bridge. Parks do not receive deliveries, so the working pattern is simple: the flowers go to the apartment, the hotel or the restaurant, and you carry them to the hill. The third pattern is the dining room, where the bouquet arrives at the host stand before you do.