Surprising Speakers of the Language of Flowers
The history of the language of flowers is like all histories: deep, filled with drama, resonance, and surprise. Floriography is taking off right now in the United States (my opinions on why here, why now, are coming in another post), which makes it easy to think that the language of flowers is somehow new. Or, perhaps, of interest or known to only a small subset of humans (such as yours truly) who are “into that sort of thing.” I am very happy being a subset if indeed there is one (fellow symbolic meanings people, unite!) but in this case, the language of flowers as somehow new, and somehow unknown, couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are a few widely varied examples, pulled primarily from the excellent information contained in Karen Azoulay’s book Flowers and their Meanings.
Royal Weddings
When she was married, at age twenty, Queen Victoria of England wore a crown of orange blossoms. She was well-versed in the language of flowers: orange blossoms indicate chastity, marriage & fidelity.
One hundred forty-one years later twenty year old Princess Diana carried a bouquet of orange blossoms, as well as ivy (marriage), gardenia (transport of joy), Lily of the Valley (return of happiness) and Veronica (fidelity.) And yet there was a bit more: tucked nearly out of view in the very back were two yellow roses. Their meaning? Jealousy & infidelity.
Hogwarts
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Professor Snape speaks in the language of flowers when he asks Harry, “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel (a lily, meaning: “My regrets will follow you to the grave”) to an infusion of wormwood (“absence & bitter sorrow”)? The floriography translation: “I bitterly regret Lily’s (Harry’s Mother’s) death.” As we know, Snape always held a torch for Lily.
Shakespeare
In the sixteenth century, Shakespeare—very much attuned to the use of flowers as a form of language—penned Hamlet. In it, distraught & grieving the death of her father, Ophelia is crowned with a wreath of wildflowers. Included were campion, nettle, daisy, and early purple orchid. Translated in order: “The fayre mayde stung to the quick, her virgin bloom under the cold hand of death.”
Ritual Among Slaves
For those who were enslaved in the American South, the ability to gather together, grieve & mourn was rarely allowed. To keep track of where their loved ones were buried, many enslaved African Americans planted Periwinkle (“tender recollections”) on the graves. The tiny blue perennial flowers would bloom in place, year after year. Later, archaeologists found the flowers to be such a consistent marker that they followed the patches of periwinkle to locate and discover these unmarked burial sites.