Floriography ~ Is The Language Of The Flowers

I am so thankful for the flowers this year. It is no wonder the Victorian era created the language of the flowers by attributing meanings and symbolism to flowers. They could speak emotions that were too painful , or sometimes too insulting, to put into direct conversation.

Chrysanthemums are thought to be for funerals, but each colour has its own meaning. Red ones proclaim love, yellow represent slighted or spurned love, and white ones represent truth.

When you look at the long list of meanings, one bouquet of flowers could say a lot! Tall sunflowers represent false pride and riches, phlox means our souls unite, petunias represent resentment and anger.

Alyssum means worth beyond beauty. Dahlias represent dignity and elegance, while delphiniums speak to a flight of fancy. Roses are associated with love, but they too have different meanings according to colour. White roses represent purity and innocence, peach show gratitude and sincerity, the yellow ones depict friendship and the red ones – love.

This year I planted chocolate cosmos, mostly for the sound of their name – like a chocolate latte. I wanted to find out if they really did smell like chocolate, and sure enough they do. They grow on long spindly stems, which makes the velvety little flowers dance about in the breeze. Apparently they are among the top ten rarest plants in the world.

A fragrance garden is like being given a whiff of subtle beauty – masterfully evasive and lingering only long enough to be appreciated. You cannot capture it, you can only pay attention. The delicate blend of fragrances, from many different types of flowers is as calming as meditation, and as exhilarating as a waft of love in the air.

Just when a batch of lilies fades and drops its petals, the dahlias and sunflowers burst into bloom. Meanwhile, the impatient plants, zinnias, heliotrope, and roses bloom steadily for months. The more time you spend with them, the more they flourish.

In most cases I would not give much credence to the Victorian meanings nowadays, other than for the sake of interest, romanticism and nostalgia. I would never associate petunias with resentment, or sunflowers with false pride, other than the fact they are tall, with bright flowers.

The beauty, colour, fragrance, and liveliness of the flower garden sings as opposed to speaking. When it comes to the law of attraction, flowers are huge attracters of positive energy. They give us a double burst of the sun’s energy. If they are happy where they are planted or placed, they can be prolific bloomers.

Flowers do have expression and vibrancy. Like most living things, they respond to nurturing and attention. Since we are traveling less, more people are taking time to smell the roses. Time spent in the midst of flowers is like a mini vacation.