Flowers are wonderful and can say more than words sometime. Have you ever wondered the meaning of flowers when choosing them as a gift? What’s your favourite flower?
This flower is called ‘hot lips’ and photographed in Costa Rica by Monica Costa, editor of London Mums magazine
Lovers can offer flowers to each other as a token of their longing, devotion, and love. The language and meaning of flowers has evolved over time.
ACACIA: Concealed love, chaste love.
AMARYLLIS: Pride, beauty.
APPLE BLOSSOMS: Good fortune, preference.
AZALEA: Love, romance, first love, fragile passion, temperance. It is also the Chinese symbol of womanhood and femininity.
BASIL: Best wishes.
BEGONIA: Be cordial, fanciful nature, beware.
CACTUS: Endurance, warmth.
CALENDULA: Grace, grief, jealousy. Also the birth flower for October.
CAMELLIA: Gratitude, loveliness.
CHRYSANTHEMUM: Cheerfulness, optimism, rest, truth, long life, joy. Considered to be a noble flower in Asian culture, mums are used as an object of meditation per a suggestion by Confucius. Also the birth flower for November.
CROCUS: Cheerfulness, gladness, abuse not.
CYCLAMEN: Resignation, good-bye.
CYPRESS: Mourning, death.
DAFFODIL: Regard, rebirth, new beginnings, unrequited love, you’re the only one, chivalry, eternal life. Associated with the tenth wedding anniversary. Also the birth flower for March and the national symbol of Wales.
Illustration by Irene Gomez Granados
DAHLIA: Instability, dignity, forever, good taste.
DAISY: Innocence, loyal love, I’ll never tell, purity, love that conquers all, beauty, simplicity. Associated with the fifth wedding anniversary.
FREESIA: Innocence, thoughtfulness.
GERANIUM: Stupidity, folly, comfort, gentility.
HIBISCUS: Delicate beauty.
HYACINTH: Sport, play, games, rashness, flower dedicated to Apollo.
LILY: Majesty, wealth, pride, innocence, purity.
MAGNOLIA: Dignity, love of nature, nobility.
NARCISSUS: Egotism, conceit, self love, self admiration, formality, stay as sweet as you are. Also known as the birth flower for December.
OLIVE BRANCH: Peace.
ORANGE BLOSSOMS/FLOWERS: Purity, innocence, eternal love, marriage, and fruitfulness, fertility, pure loveliness, chastity.
ORCHID: Rare beauty, love, refinement, beautiful lady, Chinese symbol for many children, mature charm, beauty, long life. Associated with twenty-eighth wedding anniversary.
POPPY, RED: Pleasure, consolation.
ROSE: Love, passion, perfection. The rose was named for the Latin word rosa which means red. It has been a symbol of love since ancient times.
ROSE, BRIDAL: Love, happiness.
ROSE, PINK: Happiness, appreciation, admiration, friendship, sympathy.
ROSE, RED: Love, passion, respect, courage, I love you, beauty, pure and lovely, prosperity.
ROSE, SINGLE, FULL BLOOM: I love you, I still love you, new love.
ROSE, WHITE: Innocence, purity, secrecy, I am worthy of you, silence, friendship, truth, virtue, girlhood, humility spiritual love, but of the soul, reverence, charm, happy love and national symbol of England.
ROSE, YELLOW: Joy, friendship, true love, decrease of love, jealousy, try to care, freedom, slighted love, shows “I care”, gladness.
ROSES, YELLOW & RED TOGETHER: Happiness, congratulations.
ROSEMARY: Remembrance, devotion, purity, rebirth.
SAGE: Virtue.
SUNFLOWER: It follows the sun as it grows, adoration, haughtiness, devotion.
TULIP: Perfect lover, frame.
VIOLET: Modesty, faithfulness, innocence, understated beauty, you’re in my thoughts. Worn by the ancient Greeks to induce sleep and to calm tempers.
What’s your favourite flower? Let us know the name of your favourite flower.
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