With Valentine’s day around the corner, it becomes a bit stressful and hectic looking for the perfect gift to give to your friends, family, and significant others. In this article I’m going to guide you through the meanings of different flower colors to help you create the perfect bouquet for everyone on your list this year.
First, how did people start using flowers to express themselves? It all started with Victorian England in the 19th century. They had very strict social customs, an example being that a woman could not be alone with a man until they were engaged. They also needed their mother’s permission, and could not be out late at night with a man. Therefore they turned to things like fans, gloves, parasols, and flowers to relay the messages that they could not say aloud. Along with meaningful and secret messages, the way that the flowers were presented also played a major role in the meaning of the exchange. When given flowers with the right hand, it meant “yes”, but when given with the left hand, it meant “no”. If the ribbon was tied to the right it meant the flowers had to do with the giver, but when tied to the left it meant that it was about the giver. These are just a few of the many ways that they relayed messages to one another through flowers.
The color of the flowers were the key takeaways that were used to identify the symbolism of the flowers, so I will help break it down to assist you in creating the perfect bouquet. The color pink is often associated with femininity and gentleness, which is why most mother’s day bouquets are full of pink flowers. If you know someone who’s full of enthusiasm, orange symbolizes boldness and excitement. For anyone that you are proud of, the color purple shows success, admiration, and even royalty. Lavender, although technically a shade of purple, symbolizes grace, elegance, and youth. We all have a friend that is a little upset during Valentine’s season, so a good option would be to give them some blue flowers, which symbolize peace and tranquility, along with white flowers, which can mean either purity, innocence, or sympathy. On the other hand, for those who are looking to entice their partners, red is always a classic, resembling passion, desire, love, and respect. For those of you who have been struggling to find a nice way to express that you don’t want to be with your significant other anymore, yellow and green flowers are a perfect opportunity to ease the pain with a sweet scent. Yellow flowers symbolize friendship and joy, while green flowers can represent rebirth, renewal, and good fortune.
If you were hoping to get a little more specific with the message you’re trying to send, baby’s breath, carnations, and lavender mean pure, everlasting love and devotion.
A bouquet of red tulips was used to symbolize a declaration of love, while a bouquet of general tulips was used as a way of declaring the perfect lover.
No matter if you’re getting ready to give a bouquet to your friend, father, mother, or soon to be ex lover, I hope that this guide has assisted you in your flower-picking journey.
