"Flowers have a language of their own, and it is this bright particular language that we would teach our readers. How charmingly a young gentleman can speak to a young lady, and with what eloquent silence in this delightful language. How delicately she can respond, the beautiful little flowers telling her tale in perfumed words; what a delicate story the myrtle or the rose tells! How unhappy that which basil, or yellow rose reveals, while ivy is the most faithful of all." or so says Colliers Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information and Treasury of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge (pub.1882).
The language of flowers is quite well developed, and were the whole of it published, would go on for pages and pages. Thusly, we shall confine our attention to roses, that most expressive of all flowers, and one or two other flowers.
Roses, besides fufilling their job of being lovely, often pulled double-duty. Much could be said with a rose, depending upon the colour, degree of openness, and how it is arranged. Roses almost always signify love - the above mentioned variations determine the degree and type of love the presenter feels. Note how some rose colours have several meanings - yet another opportunity for confusion!
Red Rose - true, deep, romantic love
White Rose - eternal love, innocence, purity, secrecy, unrequited love, I am worthy of you
Withered or Dried White Rose - dead love, death is preferable to loss of virtue
Yellow Rose - decrease in love, jealousy, friendship, try to care
Pink Rose - perfect happiness, sweetness, indecision
Dark Pink Rose - thankfulness
Light Pink Rose - grace, joy
Burgundy Rose - unconscious beauty
Deep Crimson Rose - mourning, bashfulness, shame
Peach Rose - immortality, modesty
Coral Rose - desire
Damask Rose - brilliant complexion, freshness, Persian ambassador of love
Orange Rose - fascination
Lavendar Rose - enchantment
Rosebud - youth and beauty, a heart innocent of love
Red Rosebud - pure and lovely
White Rosebud - a heart ignorant of love, girlhood
11 red roses and one yellow rose - love and passion
Bouquet of full bloom roses - gratitude
One full bloom roses over two rose buds - secrecy
White Rose and Red Rose together - unity
Single Full Bloom - I truly love you, I still love you, simplicity
Thornless Single Rose - love at first sight
A Rose given daily - "Thy smile I aspire to"
Rose Leaf - you may hope
This, again, is not an exhaustive list. There were meanings for almost every known variety of roses! And there are many more meanings involved with the arrangement and degree of openness. As far as other flowers go, consider, if you will, that entire books were published on this subject. To even attempt to compile a list here would be insane. However, some flower meanings are more interesting than others. For example - a Venus fly trap means (suprise!) "caught at last". A lady who wished to get rid of a dense suitor would hope he would get the message when she offered him a bachelors button for his boutonniere. Dandelions even held a meaning (faithfulness), showing that even obnoxious weeds were not beyond the Victorians grasp. Ivy means fidelity, which explains it's popularity in Victorian bridal bouquets.
There are dozens and dozens of websites devoted to elucidating the meanings of flowers. Some even give examples of bouquets with their meanings. My personal favorite was, "I'm sorry I was a drunken fool. Please forgive me, I'm only human.". Some things obviously never change.
9 comments:
lol, I love that last part!! What was the bouquet made of?? and forgive my stupidity, but what color is damask??
I think the clear conclusion one must reach having read this entry is that a guy ought never buy a girl flowers. What he thinks looks nice and might be something she will enjoy will no doubt be interpreted in some sort of strange manner not intended and the end result will be anger, resentment and disaster.
So what flowers would one find in the "Sorry I was a drunken fool. Please forgive me I'm only human." bouquet?
You can't miss with peonies Nil. I'm sure they mean something like "I thought these looked nice"
I think dandilions look nice, if i gave a bouquet of those to any of your kind I would be accused of giving the lady a weed. I think it's better not to bother at all, in the least it's much safer even though it's boring. You womens have only yourselves to blame, what with all these flower rules and suchlike.
Well, according to top level research, peonies stand for: Shame, Happy Marriage, Compassion, Bashfulness, Happy Life, Anger, Indignation, and Happiness. So they would be a good all purpose flower, covering a variety of emotions. Also they're lovely, which should always be the chief motive in obtaining flowers.
The bouguet in question, dear Director, consists of Fly Orchis, Hazel, Bee Ophyrs, Almond leaves, Vine, Humble Plant, and Henbane. Charming, eh? Perhaps best answered with hemlock. Or a clear indication of the position of the door.
So don't give someone a boquet of Dried White Roses, Deep Crimson Roses, and Yellow Roses?
NL...no dandelions!! Chuck...that would confuse many a person I'd imagine!!
Just don't give anybody anything ever. That'll make it easier.
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