Happy Valentine’s Day!  Maybe you are thinking about roses and other flowers today.  I’m thinking of floriography – a Victorian-era term for the language of flowers.  Often people focus on flower types, colors (and price) when purchasing flowers and bouquets these days, but historically, cut flowers, flowering plants and herbs were used as a symbolic language and could convey secret or overt meanings to the recipient.

Roses, for example, are associated with love and passion and are very popular flowers on Valentine’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, and for wedding bouquets.  Shout out to the ancient Greeks and Romans who associated roses with Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of love.  Colors signified a specific meaning as well:

• Red: beauty
• White: innocence, reverence, purity
• Pink: grace, happiness, gentleness
• Yellow: joy, friendship
• Orange: desire and enthusiasm
• Lavender: enchantment, love at first sight
• Coral: friendship, modesty, sympathy

Other common bouquet flowers include carnations, which generally express love, fascination and distinction, yet nearly every color carries a unique association: white = pure love, good luck; light red = admiration; dark red = deep love, affection; purple = capriciousness; yellow = disappointment, rejection; pink = a mother’s undying love.

I have been researching lilacs varieties (there are more than 2000 named varieties!) for early spring color and fragrance in the garden.  I was reminded of this amusing story with a link between lilacs and love.  According to Greek mythology, Syringa was a beautiful nymph or spirit of nature.  Pan, the god of nature, was captivated and chased her.  Scared, she turned into the lilac (Latin name = Syringa vulgaris) to escape his affections.  In floriography, white lilacs represent youthful innocence and purple lilacs symbolize the emotions of love.

So, in the language of flowers, I wish you a big bouquet of peonies (happiness) today!