Posted by: Guest Editor - David Hamilton on May 23rd, 2008

Joining us as guest writer this week is David Hamilton from Wakefield, Yorkshire who has taken his passion for gardening to an informative obsession with his regularly updated Gardens blog. We invited David to tell us more about how flowers evoke an array of feelings and emotions.

Florists are passionate, informed, and love the flowers that they turn into bouquets, so I wonder what the flowers mean to both the florists and the people who buy them.

Floragraphy is a word that has been used to describe the language of flowers. This changes over time and with culture. Victorians used the language of flowers to signify their feelings and intentions, which although good in the era of Queen Victoria and the Empire, emotions were always hidden, reserved. Flowers gave people a chance to break through their starched collars and stiff upper lips.

Looking up some Victorian meanings of flowers, daffodils were sent to tell someone they were their “sunshine”, Baby’s Breath signified innocence and pure of heart, while - as now - roses symbolise love. Time has moved on. We have an enormous selection of flowers now ready to buy online or in supermarkets, but I bet if we looked at the bestsellers it would be a cultural memory of flowers.

I have thought about which flowers have moved me through my life. Those memories from the distant past that have stirred my blood, and turned my knowledge for horticulture and gardening into a passion. We all have memories of flowers, partially remembered but in our heads. These first flowers start the process of gardening to grow flowers, or make us buy them to be displayed in a vase in our homes.

My nan’s sister said I always stood in front of her lilac tree when I was about three. I do not know why I was drawn to it, but now I love the smell and flowers of the Syringa Vulgaris (lilac lree).The purple flowers have a heavenly smell and take me back to an innocent time.

One of my first jobs was to clear up after our greyhound Lizzie, a sweet placid light coloured dog. I followed her and dug her mess into the Rose bushes in Barlby. I have always thought gardens need at least one rose bush, to savour the flowers, the scent, and the romance of the plant. I have seven rose plants in my garden.

My mum’s first garden was always full of self-seeded wallflowers and foxgloves. These flowers mean home to me. Mum showed me the original meaning of the cottage garden by letting them run wild down one border along the lawn.

My sister and I used to make daisy chains for necklaces and bracelets, and soft downy pillows from dandelions. These wild flowers always make me smile, and my sister will still not mow grass that has daisies in flower.

I work in a hospital and I am amazed how many flowers are brought in. Spray carnations, roses, lilies, gypsophila, tulips, and orchids too. I wonder if the people who bring them have flowers in their past that makes them select the displays that they do.

As we look back, we can remember the flowers that influenced us and made their way from our memories into our gardens or vases. Our own past experiences make the meanings of flowers to us personal. I love hearing what people’s flower memories bring to the surface.

People’s personal memories are like treasures and are great shared. What are people’s favourite memories of flowers that have influenced them the most?

I hope you comment on this post, telling us of your fondest floral memories. Here’s to the flowers that make us imagine, dream, and endeavour.

Filed under: Flowers, Guest Posts on May 23rd, 2008

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