Deciphering the Secret Language of Blooms: A Guide to Interpreting Your Valentine's Day Arrangement
In the heart of the Victorian era, a unique form of communication took root, one that allowed people to express their deepest feelings discreetly - the language of flowers, or floriography. This fascinating practice, rooted in ancient symbolic associations and mythologies around flowers, crystallized as a formal language of flowers during the 19th century, particularly for courtship and the expression of emotions.
Floriography evolved from early societies' linking of flowers with deities, moral lessons, and seasonal cycles, attributing symbolic meanings to them long before Victorian codification. Over time, these meanings blended with cultural narratives and botanical symbolism, leading to the intricate language of flowers that became particularly elaborate in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In Victorian England, floriography flourished as a semiotic system where each flower or arrangement conveyed specific messages—like love, friendship, or regret—enabling subtle, nuanced communication, especially in romantic courtship and social settings. Flowers were also incorporated into jewelry and fashion, extending their symbolic power beyond just giving bouquets.
The significance of floriography lies in its role as a unique, culturally rich form of nonverbal expression linking nature, art, ritual, and social etiquette. It enabled people to convey "the unspeakable"—feelings or intentions too delicate or taboo to voice outright—in a coded yet beautiful manner.
The practice of floriography was popularized by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in the 18th century. By 1923, a network of seventeen florists using telegraphs was established, eventually morphing into what we now know as Interflora. In the 1910s, the Florists' Delivery Association (FDA) was formed by 15 American florists, allowing for long-distance flower delivery by telegraph. The FDA's network expanded, including the addition of foreign members such as Glaswegian Joe Dobson and Carl Englemann from Saffron Walden in 1920.
The language of flowers was consolidated into encyclopaedic form in the 19th century, with one of the earliest being Le langage des Fleurs published in 1819. By the turn of the 20th century, over 98 flower dictionaries had been published in the United States. The term "say it with flowers" is attributed to Major Patrick O'Keefe and Henry Penn, who were brainstorming ideas for the Society of American Florists.
In the Victorian era, the symbolism of flowers was deeply ingrained in society, influencing writers like Jane Austen and artists like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. A chap would give his beloved a nosegay or posy, also known as a tussie-mussie, to convey a specific message. A spray of mixed carnations might have indicated that the recipient was not attending the next dance. In contrast, a mix of geraniums relayed an anxious enquiry as to whether the recipient was going to attend the next dance.
Delphiniums conveyed a sense of haughtiness, while hydrangea symbolized heartlessness and basil was associated with hate in the language of flowers during the 19th century. Bluebells were associated with kindness, peonies with bashfulness, rosemary with remembrance, and tulips with passion. The arrival of a bunch of flowers in the 19th century prompted the recipient to thumb their flower dictionary, looking for a coded message within the blooms.
Today, the cut flower and ornamental plant market in the UK is worth £2.2 billion, with the majority of the flowers sold in the UK being imported, mainly from the Netherlands. The phrase "say it with flowers" serves as a nod to the lost world of floriography, reminding us of a fascinating era when nature's beauty was harnessed to express the inexpressible.
In the realm of Victorian-era lifestyle, flowers transcended their natural beauty to form a unique language, known as floriography, that was deeply intertwined with fashion-and-beauty, particularly in jewelry and clothing designs. This intricate communication system, rooted in the symbolism of various blooms, held significant meaning in food-and-drink rituals as well, where certain flowers represented social etiquette or emotional sentiments. Furthermore, within the home-and-garden setting, flowers served as powerful tools for expressing feelings and intentions, playing an essential role in relationships, both romantic and platonic.
