Electronic Highways
The language of flowers
Many people , but do flowers talk to you?
If you give your sweetheart a rose on Valentine’s Day, might you be saying something other than what you really want to express? Different colors, sizes, varieties and numbers of roses can represent different emotions. Red roses may symbolize love, but yellow may signify jealousy and dark crimson mourning. Buds may represent innocence, and a withered rose its loss—what was Morticia Addams saying, with her beloved beheaded stalks? Visit virtual Portland, the city of roses, for a brief but comprehensive guide to the and some suggestions for .
It isn’t only roses that speak. Through the ages, various cultures have ascribed to all manner of plants all manner of meaning. For a brief history of the way in which people have used flowers to or explore specific eras in greater depth. Do you find your sentiments most in line with the or , or more ? Iowa State University has a helpful and Penn makes the classic 1852 publication available online.
Rather than cultivated blossoms, perhaps better express your thoughts, or maybe do. Carefully constructed , meanwhile, offer different perspectives.
Once versed in their language, there are many ways in which flowers can speak for you. You might create a —a nosegay that combines your selected flowers into a secret message.
Perhaps a virtual bouquet is more your style. Try the Facebook application or use one of numerous other FB “flower” apps to give the blossom of your choice. Send free , which includes link to both and . Create your own meanings by coloring and annotating with . And if a single flower or bouquet isn’t enough, create a whole .
As the sometimes-conflicting information on these sites makes clear, the language of flowers is open to interpretation; they can be made to say whatever you want them to say. Just be sure that you and the recipient are using the same floral lexicon so that your message will be clear, lest the peony you give for “happy life” be interpreted as “shame, shame, shame.”
—Nancy Babb, University Libraries
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