The Language Of The Flowers
Have you ever received a bouquet from your mother-in-law with gorgeous anemones, borage, striped carnations, and columbine? You thought your mother-in-law hated you. You were wrong. The flowers are beautiful; however, if you knew the meanings of these flowers, you’d see she may loathe you.
Anemone means forsaken, borage means blunt and directness, striped carnations mean refusal, and columbine means foolish. So if you just got engaged, it seems your mother-in-law thinks you have forsaken her, and she refuses to be a part of this foolishness.
When we go to Walmart, we see bouquets in various colors and types. They are all seen as cheap, easy gifts for a significant other. I wonder how many of them may have mixed messages. Breaking this down by the most popular flowers in the US, we have roses, lilies, daisies, tulips, and orchids.
These respectively mean love (if it’s red), heavenly (if it’s white), innocence/loyalty, sunshine (if it’s yellow), and refinement/maturity. By nature, these are all good, but I want to dig deeper.
I went to the front of Walmart and took pictures of the prettier bouquets, in my personal opinion (the joys of investigative journalism). So these were what those bouquets meant.
My first stop was Walmart. I found a small rack of bouquets in the produce section; some were just different colors of the same flower, so I skipped them. Instead, I found three bouquets with a wide assortment of flowers and greenery.
Sadly these bouquets did not have a list of what flowers were in them. But luckily for you, dear reader, my three horticulture classes have served me well, and I am certain I can identify these rogue flowers.
The first bouquet was very colorful. We had some peachy light pink carnations, a few red mini roses, some yellow pincushion mums, and some dark purple hydrangeas. Now deciphering the meaning of this bouquet, the pink carnation means I’ll never forget you. The red rose means love. The yellow mums mean slighted love, and the purple hydrangeas can mean gratitude or heartlessness. So seeing as how the other flowers are flowing in the direction of love and never forgetting, then moving into slighted love and heartlessness, I am deeming this a breakup bouquet.
The second bouquet had fewer clashing colors. There were white pincushion mums, pink roses, pink lilies, and purple rhododendrons. The white mums mean truth, the pink roses mean happiness, the pink lilies mean riches and success, and the purple rhododendrons represent danger. There is one odd one out here. I would love to go way more in-depth and say it means the truth leads to danger, but honestly, I think it’s a well-meaning handful of flowers wishing happiness and success to someone. This seems like the bouquet someone would give their child after wishing them well and warning them to be good.
The last Walmart bouquet is a combination of pink lilies and red roses. A straightforward message. The red roses mean love; the pink lilies represent success. This seems to be hoping for success for someone you love—a boost of confidence bouquet.
The lesson to be had here is to be wary when giving someone a bouquet.
