a to z
lingua floria
Savannah is not the up and coming city in the motions of revivalism. It’s not a hidden gem of the south, rather the diamond in the ring of one’s great-grandmother. No doubt a beauty, but one that’s been passed down generations and a bit roughed up. It’s this beauty that many come seeking in Savannah. The southern belle wedding, the charming drawl of the Spanish moss swinging, the slow, steady pace of a carriage.
And it is this caricature that A to Zinnias, a floral boutique on East Broad St, caters to. A bright, white affair, the store is well kept, sleek and somewhat modern. It’s a well-staged vibe of friendliness and upscale. It attracts the more well to do of Savannah. It’s clients are those from around the country flocking to Savannah for that picturesque southern wedding. Upper to middle class clients pervade the market in flower shops in Savannah, the most common occasions for the shop being weddings and special events.
Haley and I arrived at A to Zinnias early on a Sunday. Possibly the most erratic, busiest time to be there. Why? Prime time for wedding season. The shop was handling 7 weddings just that week and we wanted to take time away from that to talk to the owners and employees? The epitome of an inconvenience. Because of this it was difficult scheduling times to interview and photograph.
We met with the owner of the shop, Heidi, right as the shop opened. She invited us in with a warm smile matched ironically with a heavy jacket as the morning was a bit colder than usual. After introductions we asked Heidi how she started her shop. Flowers, it seemed, were in her nature. Growing up she often visited her grandmother who owned a flower shop and from this she learned the ins and outs of flowers at a young age. Proving a quick study she won her very first flower contest in only 1st grade. She worked in floral shops while in school and some of college but finally took the next step into owning her own shop with a close friend 8 years ago. Weddings dominate the shops’s time, other affairs they work for being graduations and business parties.
The degree of detail that goes into each bouquet is far beyond what one would think. You see flowers have a language all their own. The structure and size of a flower determines if and where it can be used. The way each petal gushes outward or retreats inward is more than just an aesthetic, rather a symbol of outward happiness or hidden sadness. Each flower’s color determines it’s use as well as a meaning. White is often used for funerals. Blushy, innocent colors are used for spring weddings. Deep red used for fall weddings and an assortment of colors are used to signify celebrations or ceremonies. Snipping, trimming, pruning, the process of turning flowers into works of art fills the air in the store.
“The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed.” -Homer
We asked her why flowers? What makes them so special to us, to use them in important events and moments in our lives? She replied, “It’s like looking at a really beautiful painting…things that are beautiful inspire you. It’s something that you can’t really have or keep or posses, flowers are going to eventually die but there’s something magical about having something that’s so beautiful to look at for a moment not being able to own it.” On reflection we thought it apt to compare her thoughts to Homer’s famous quote, “The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed.” We share the lifelines of flowers more than we think, we bloom and fade in what seems like such small hours.
Heidi explained to us one reason why flowers are so incorporated in a wedding; they allow a bride or party to make the space their own. Even though other weddings have been here and will be, the flowers and arrangements chosen lend the space a unique air each time. We discovered that flowers are a way of personalizing Savannah, this city so full of it’s own personality, into something one can call their own, their own touch or their own version of the city, if only for a day. Not unlike the life of a flower. After the interview she gave us each a bouquet to take home, leaving us with smiles on our faces and petals in the elevator of our apartment.
After our meeting at the floral shop it seemed odd to me to be walking around town and catching the flowers that grew along the sidewalks as having no meaning. Why are the wild flowers growing along the streets of no importance? Why when I was given flowers from A to Zinnias did I make sure to hold them tightly, to look at them as beautiful and precious when I could pick the flowers around town and not feel the same for them? I saw tokens of farewell and love in flowers left on graves. I saw floral bouquets on the horse drawn carriage rides around town and it seemed fitting because the carriage rides are special events, one doesn't have one every day.
Once I began spotting flowers around the city I realized where places were that lacked them. Namely abandoned buildings and the projects on East Broad. Do the people living there not have a purpose for flowers in their lives? Thinking more on it I realized it seemed to be a reflection of what Heidi told us in our interview. “The Victorians would use flowers for all kinds of things. They were big in sending posies as messages, as a form of communication. It was mostly an aristocratic thing, it tended to be more wealthy people.” It seems perhaps that the history of flowers has kept to the well to do even now. Flowers are not among the projects. Flower wreaths do not hang from the clothing lines. Flower pots do not grace the steps of front doors. Flowers do not seem to have a place in the parts of society that are lower income. But what if they did? What would happen to the general feeling, the spirit of people living there if fresh flowers were everywhere? What would it look like, what would it feel like if there were an an abundance of flowers, if kids picked them from overrunning gardens? Would they then be placed inside the home or shared and given to neighbors? Would flowers help to create a sense of pride, a sense of specialness to an other wise overlooked and dreary place, as they do for weddings and events?
Once we began compiling our notes, photographs, and research we began to realize that A to Zinnias is very much apart of the facade one is presented when in Savannah. Following along with the stream of charming southern locale, it helps to keep the folktales alive and thriving. But we discovered that while it is a cog in the machine, it’s one that’s changing the machine’s purpose. It allows people the ability to customize the city, to take their great-grandmother’s ring and give it a new stone, one that can shine brighter and make its own future. Perhaps it’s a step toward making Savannah its own, apart from its past.
introduction to anthropology
photos © sydney 2014
sydney + haley
