What Can You Say Using Flower Names and Meanings?

Did you know that just about every flower out there has a name and that most of them also have traditional meanings? Or you just use flower delivery services without caring about names and meanings? Leave it to the Victorians to make it all up! Long before the 19th Century, certain flowers had certain meanings. You can see this even well back in Greek writing and plays. However, the Victorians, classically, put together large lists of the meanings of all the flowers they could think of. When they sent a flower bouquet, they weren’t just sending something pretty. They were also sending a message. Because of the flower names and meaning that have come down to us from traditions, you can say just about anything with flowers.

Of course, there are all the traditional meanings of flowers that speak for lovers. If you’re too shy to say something to someone you love, or if you simply want to let flowers speak with you, you can do that with the right arrangement. A red rose, for instance, has long stood for passion. You can send wild roses to mean poetry and white roses to mean silence or purity, as well. Beautiful spring tulips are also a declaration of love and can make lovely potted arrangements to remind your lover of your feelings for weeks to come.

You can also end a relationship with flowers, too. Ask a Montreal florist, and you will know that yellow roses stand for infidelity, and they can be an accusation or a confession, depending on what they’re paired with. Sunflowers stand for false riches, and the narcissus, named after the ancient legend of self-involved Narcissi, stands for selfishness. If you really want to tell someone how you feel about their role in your relationship without being too harsh, flowers could be the way to do it. Of course, if they look up flower names and meanings on their own, they could interpret a very clear message!

Flowers are often used for funeral arrangements, as well. In this situation, you can often get beautiful meanings from the flowers you use. Send pansies to stand for thoughtfulness. The French name for these flowers, pensees, literally means thinking. Wrap an arrangement in ivy to stand for your friendship with the deceased or his family. The flower names and meanings can stand for all these things if you just take the time to look them up and interpret them for the person you’re gifting.