If your girlfriend loves flowers, but bemoans the fact that cut flowers are beautiful but a bit depressing (they are cut and dying in the vase) then you should just find some alternative floral ideas. There are plenty of fantastic floral gifts you can send her that will be vibrant, beautiful, and, most importantly, lively. Here are three ideas.

Tulip Bulbs In A Water Vase

Roses are a bit finicky to grow and they have thorns, but tulips are super easy to grow. Unlike roses, you can grow tulips in a vase without any soil. This makes them perfect for your girlfriend if she is not the type who wants to tend to a tiny little garden. You can get a large vase and get a plastic tulip bulb holder insert. These slide down into the bottom of the vase. You then place the tulip bulbs into the plastic holders, fill the vase with water, and in a few weeks the tulips will show. These are perfect because your girlfriend will get to see the process of the bulbs sprouting and the tulips emerging. It's a long process and very interesting. She will get to see the complete lifecycle, not just the cut tulips.

A Potted Flowering Cactus

A very nice gift for your girlfriend if she wants a plant that will stick around, and doesn't need much care, is a flowering cactus. These can be placed on her windowsill, and she won't have to remember to water it everyday. There are plain cacti that don't have flowers, but if she does enjoy the color of flowers, then look for a variety of cactus that flowers such as Peruvian Apple or Melocactus coccinea. These cacti will be both beautiful, low maintenance, and long lasting.

Gardenias In A Box

If your girlfriend loves walking around looking at classic garden flowers, but she lives in an apartment, or a house where she doesn't have room for a garden (maybe she only rents a room) then a super gift for her would be gardenias in a box. The gardenia flower is one of the classics of the horticultural world. It is a evergreen shrub that also produces flowers for a portion of the year. The flowers tend to be a gorgeous white, or pale yellow. They boom in tight clusters and have a strong, intoxicating scent (which is why you see many perfumes using gardenia as a base note).

You can get gardenias in a box so that your girlfriend will have a ready made garden. Then she can place the box on a table near a window and have something beautiful to look at year round.