BLOOM THYME FRIDAY: SAY IT WITH FLOWERS

Link | February 12, 2021February 12, 2021 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

Valentine’s Day brings back so many wonderful memories…. remember as kids getting your Valentines ready to take to your school friends – weighing each word carefully. And of course, how exciting (and sometimes a bit scary) it was to anticipate what valentines would be given to you. Even the container used for transporting your valentines was important!

My Valentine’s Day memories as a florist are filled with beautiful flowers, blurry eyes, and fatigue from working long, long, very long days helping others express their love. It was beautiful work highlighted by coolers filled to the brim with roses and other gorgeous flowers often on bitter cold midwest February days – much like today!! Working side-by-side with my florist friends was such great fun too. Things got quite giggly after midnight during holidays!

VALENTINE’S DAY TRIVIA

Passing out Valentines is a 600-year-old tradition.
Candy hearts were originally medical lozenges.
In 2019 Americans spent 20.7 billion for Valentine’s Day
The Chocolate Box has been around for more than 140 years.
Teachers are the number one recipient of valentines.

Read more from the original article by Woman’s Day Here.

I also read that approximately 250 million roses are grown for Valentine’s Day — about 45% of those roses are red.

Yes, like no other flower, the red rose says LOVE.

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THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

I am so very fascinated by the Victorian practice of conveying your feelings with flowers and herbs.

The Victorians were serious about their flowers and even developed a “love language of flowers” that included herbs, shrubs, roses and more. Don’t you just love that! These arrangements were often given in a small nosegay called a Tussie Mussie.

FLORIOGRAPHY

From The Language of Flowers by Kathleen M. Gips … a fascinating pamphlet I have had for years. Kathleen has another book, Flora’s Dictionary, that is available on Amazon here.

“The language of flowers was universally understood in the East and the herbal symbolisms recognized and practiced in Europe for centuries, but it was not until the 1800’s that floral dictionaries were written to help the public communicate in the language of flowers. This romantic ‘floriography’ became especially popular in the Victorian era starting with the reign of Queen Victoria in England (1840). Dozens of floral dictionaries were available in England, America and Europe.
Floral language was thought to be created to symbolize the most delicate sentiments in a ‘silent eloquence’ that would be a language better than writing.“

Mothers of the Victorian era were directed to teach their daughters religion and the art of making a well-made bokay. Talk about your priorities for home schooling! 🙂 Yes floral dictionaries would be a must! Many finishing schools offered instruction in botany and ‘floriograpy.’

We didn’t call it ‘floriography’ but my children were collecting flowers and making bokays to deliver in their wagon from a very young age. Such great fun!

RESOURCES

Tussie Mussie — The Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in the Language of Flowers by Geraldine Adamich Laufer. (HERE) It is an excellent resource.

ON MY WISH LIST…

Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers by Jessica Roux (HERE)

BOKAY DAYS…

One of my greatest joys is sharing bokays from my garden – all the flowers I share come from my heart and say I care about you and want you to have a special day. But, the fascinating list the Victorians gave us could sure add a special touch to our bokay sharing. More about Bokay Days here. Let’s all hope and pray that this summer we can get back to having people in our gardens. If not we will do what we did in 2020 … masked and socially distanced deliveries.

HOT CHOCOLATE BOMBS

Yes, I am still on the Hot Chocolate kick. Hot Chocolate Bombs have been the rage lately. I have seen so many social media videos of people pouring steaming hot water or milk over a HC Bomb to have it explode with chocolate, marshmallows and all sorts of yumminess. Mr. G loves chocolate so for his Valentine’s present, I ordered “bombs” from a friend who makes the most wonderful sweet treats. If you are local, contact SWEET TREATS BY JANESE here.

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SOME OF MY FAVORITE HERBS & FLOWERS WITH THEIR MEANINGS….

Basil: Best Wishes
Black Eyed Susan: Encouragement
Daisy: Beauty, Innocence
Parsley: Joy
Pink Carnation: Gratitude
Rosemary: Remembrance
Lavender: Devotion
Lily of the Valley: Sweetness
Lemon Verbena: Enchantment
Red Rose: I love you, desire
Pink Rose: Appreciation
Yellow Rose: Friendship (Can also mean jealousy 😳)
Lavender Roses: Love at first sight and enchantment
Zinnia: Thoughts of absent friends

FROM ME TO YOU…

I am virtually putting together a Tussie Mussie for you. It includes pink roses, pink carnations with a touch of rosemary, basil and lemon verbena. 😘

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY FRIENDS!

Until next time …

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Cemetery Roses

April 2, 2015March 17, 2016 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

As many of you know I have loved roses since I was a teenager but I didn’t start my dive into old and historical roses until the 80s when I read the journal of a young woman who left the comfort of her home to join her husband in a journey west. One of the experiences she described was painstakingly taking cuttings of the roses and plants she just couldn’t live without. As I read her story, I felt as though I was going on the journey with her. Roses were not just for beauty to the women of this era. They were also a source of flavoring and vitamin C (from their hips). Even the most thorny roses were of value as they were used as living fences to protect vegetable gardens and such.

Also during this time we were given Harison’s Yellow (Hybrid Foetida) rose from a friend in Tennessee who had received it from a family member in Ohio. We learned that this rose had been passed through their family for some time. I started doing some investigation and found out just where the rose originated. You can read the history of Harison’s Yellow here.

I continue to love old garden and historical roses and have several in my garden. What a joy it is to visit gardens that have these lovely old beauties. One such garden is definitely on my garden bucket list … The award-winning Sacramento City Cemetery Rose Garden. This garden is home to old or antique roses collected from cemeteries, old home sites and along roadsides in northern California. The establishment of the garden was done by Fred Boutin, an internationally recognized rosarian and authority on “found roses,” and Jean Travis, a member of the Heritage Rose Group. Members of this group work to collect, plant and maintain these roses which were popular from the California Gold Rush era through the Victorian/Edwardian era (1850-1915). The collection now includes more than 400 plants–over 200 varieties.

For those of you who love fragrant roses, these roses are some of the most fragrant roses that exist.

You can imagine how thrilled I was to have Anita Clevenger, Curator of this garden, with us on Rose Chat. Did you know that cemeteries used to be a place to gather for picnics regularly? Hear about that and more by clicking on the Rose Chat logo below.

If you live in the the Sacramento area, their annual Open Day in the Garden event is in April. They have many activities planned including the ever popular Rose Sale! Hundreds of roses are available and they always sell out. So, it pays to get there early! 🙂

For the list of other events in the garden this year, read on.

All you need is love…

February 8, 2014February 7, 2021 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

The Beatles sang, “all you need is love,” but when it comes to Valentine’s Day I would suggest you need just a bit more — flowers and maybe even chocolate. And, on Valentine’s day … the premier flower to convey the message of love is the rose!

A few years ago when I was a florist I can tell you that on Valentine’s Day business was always booming and we did hundreds & hundreds of vases of roses and most of them were red, but we also had customers who were looking for roses other than red to convey a certain meaning as there IS a language of flowers.

The Victorians were serious about their flowers and even developed a very unique “language of flowers” that included herbs, shrubs blossoms and more! Mothers of that era were directed to teach their daughters religion and the art of making a well-made bokay. At least religion was first. But when you see the long list of flowers and what they could mean, it is a little daunting — it was a very good thing that the Victorians were armed with their floral dictionaries to keep things straight. As we learned from Newland and Countess Ellen Olenska in The Age of Innocence … sending an inappropriate message in a bokay of flowers could be social death.

I don’t want there to be any social death when it comes to your sending roses this year and to help you sort out some of their meanings, here are the top colors of roses and what they symbolize.

Let’s get started with Red — the universal symbol of love and romance.

Red also means beauty, courage, and respect as well as you are ready to take the relationship to the next level. Hey, that could be very helpful! 🙂

In a nutshell, the red rose is the most popular way to say “I LOVE YOU!”

Want to grow red roses in your garden, here are some to consider: The Kordes rose Grande Amore is sure beautiful. Others are Oh My, Mr. Lincoln and Veteran’s Honor, Red Drift and Firefighter. Of course, before purchasing roses check your growing zone, and better yet get recommendations from your local Rose Society or via the American Rose Society online here.

PINK ROSES

Pink roses carry with them the meaning of appreciation or “thank you,” grace, perfect happiness and admiration, and even “Please Believe Me.”

Pink is also thought to be the gentler side of red and might be a good choice if your relationship is in the strong LIKE stage.

Pink roses to grow in your garden: Beverly Hybrid Tea is a new beautiful, fragrant, and extremely hardy pink rose. Another amazing pink rose is Quietness – a very hardy Buck rose.

Anna's Promise Grandiflora Hybridizer: Tom Carruth Easy Care Fragrant — Anna’s Promise

ORANGE ROSES

Now to the bright and bold orange roses … they can mean desire, enthusiasm, and passion.

Giving a bouquet of orange roses could be a sign of emerging romantic feelings and the desire to move a relationship beyond the stage of friendship.

They can also be an expression of fascination or a gift to say “I’m proud of you.”

Orange roses to grow in your garden are Artistry, All a Twitter, Tuscan Sun, Easy Does It & Hot Cocoa.

David Austin's Wollerton Old Hall — David Austin’s Wollerton Old Hall

YELLOW ROSES

Yellow roses convey … joy, gladness, friendship, delight, and a promise of a new beginning,

Yellow roses can also mean Welcome Back – When we tie a yellow ribbon around the tree — remember that song?

Yellow can also mean … remember me, jealousy or “I care.”

I love associating yellow roses with joy and friendship because I always think of yellow roses as brightening someone’s day. They sure brighten mine!

Some yellow roses to grow in your garden: One of my favorites is Julia Child, others are Graham Thomas and Golden Celebrations— lovely David Austin yellow roses.

LAVENDER ROSES

Lavender roses carry with them the meaning of love at first sight and enchantment.

This is another color that was very popular at the flower shop. Lavender roses were highly sought after because they were so fragrant and you didn’t see them as often, so they could really make an impact as a gift.

Lavender roses to grow in your garden… The only lavender rose I grow at this time is a Kordes rose called Poseidon and it has very lovely fringed petals.

Other lovely lavender roses would be Barbara Streisand, Neptune, and the stunning Love Song!

VALENTINE’S DAY

Regardless of the origins of Valentine’s Day, it is today a day to celebrate those in your life that you love. I wish you a life that is overflowing with love and filled with beautiful roses.

Well, and a little chocolate.