The Language of Flowers – a Lover’s Code

Each plant had its own meaning, and most of those used were familiar and easily recognisable garden flowers. As time went on, and new plants were introduced and became popular, the language of flowers grew, remaining popular until the turn of the twentieth century.

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Love - Red rose; Mature charms - Cattleya; Withered hope - Anemone

Beginnings

The language of flowers originated in France. The first popular book on the subject was Charlotte de la Tour’s 1819 ‘Le langage des fleurs’, which laid out some 300 meanings for particular flowers, to be used in making bouquets.

By the time La Tour’s book was translated into English, it had already inspired several British and American writers. Each author laid out their own version of the language, drawing from different sources of inspiration and bringing their own preferences to the trend. Some insisted on retaining meanings familiar from Shakespeare, for example that rosemary is for remembrance, as declared by Ophelia in Hamlet. Others toned down anything they deemed too erotic – meaning Polianthes tuberosa was no longer associated with ‘voluptuousness’ but instead with, ‘I have seen a lovely girl’.

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The beautiful book covers are a work of art in themselves

Getting out of hand

As time went on, there became so many meanings that you would need a floral dictionary to decode a bouquet. In 1869, John Ingram published ‘Flora Symbolica’, which brought together a variety of meanings from different sources.

Several other authors followed suit in the decades that followed, but their task was not easy: sometimes the same plants would be listed more than once, under English and American common names, with different meanings. The lists got ever more extensive and impractical, growing to include decidedly bouquet-unfriendly plants, including cacti, mushrooms, and gourds.

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The board game ‘Das Reich der Blumenkönigin. Sinnige Unterhaltung. L’empire de la reine des fleurs. The realm of the queen of flowers’, includes cut out flower illustrations that are used to create a bouquet or floral arrangement.

A minefield of meaning

To make things even more complicated, by the 1850s, many books declared that the way a flower was presented affected its meaning. This meant that the tilt of a Ranunculus became the difference between complimenting your loved one (‘You are radiant with charms’), and accidentally accusing them of being big headed!

Some books even carried instructions on how flowers could be worn to carry different messages. Apparently placing a marigold on your head meant ‘mental anguish’, whilst worn at the bosom it meant ‘indifference.’ It’s a wonder young lovers ever successfully managed to communicate with one another.

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Some books gave instructions on how to behave, but they were sometimes confusing

Decline and Revival

The last popular nineteenth century English book on the subject was Kate Greenaway’s ‘Language of Flowers’ (1884), but picture postcards and greetings cards continued to use some themes from the language of flowers until well into the 20th century. But following the First World War, one writer wrote of such emblems, “how remote from the thought of the present age”.

Things started to change in the 1960s, as the Victorian revival got under way. Some of the early decorative books were reissued, and by the late 1970s, new books and chapters on the subject began to appear.

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The language of Flowers has come and gone, in terms of popularity, over time

Wedding Bouquets

By the beginning of the 21st century, the revived language of flowers was being used to choose flowers for wedding bouquets and decorations.

The flowers for the wedding bouquet of Catherine, Princess of Wales were chosen for their meanings by the flower arranger Shane Conolly, who wrote a book on the language of flowers in 2004. Conolly chose sweet williams, lilies of the valley, ivy (fidelity), hyacinths (constancy), and myrtle. The myrtle in the bouquet was taken from a plant at Osborne House, said to have been cultivated from a sprig in a nosegay given to Queen Victoria.

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Return of happiness – Lily of the valley; Gallantry – Sweet William; The emblem of marriage; love–Myrtle

This article was adapted from Brent Elliott’s paper ‘The Victorian Language of Flowers’, in Volume 10 of Occasional Papers from the RHS Lindley Library.