Colleen Murphy Florist is a flower shop at 148 Kitchener Road in Milford, on Auckland's North Shore, where it holds a 4.8 Google rating. A good neighbourhood florist works with the seasons — stems in season locally are fresher, last longer and usually cost less than hothouse flowers flown in at the wrong time of year, so it pays to ask what's good this week rather than arriving set on one particular bloom. Regulars also know the value of handing over the job properly — the occasion, the mood, the budget — and letting the florist build something to suit, which almost always beats picking blind from the buckets. Call a day or two ahead around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, when every shop in town runs short. For Milford locals, a highly rated florist on Kitchener Road means fresh flowers are never far from home.