Flowers Have Special Meaning

As a child, flowers were a big part of my life. My mother, grandmother, and neighbors always had flowers planted in every spare spot, they could find, in their yards. So in Spring and Summer, my childhood was awash in vibrant color. Flowers grew in abundance, bees buzzed, June Bugs hummed, and beautiful birds, of every color, sang in this virtual Garden of Eden.

Each Spring, my family and I, would make our annual pilgrimage to Knoxville to join a host of other flower enthusiasts at the Iris Gardens. We would walk along pebble paths to gaze at the large variety of colors and jot down the names of new ones. One summer we even traveled into North Carolina to the majestic Biltmore Estate and Gardens to view their gorgeous dahlias.

My first self-employment venture was the job of selling fresh cut flowers in front of our house. I don't remember, now, the variety of flowers I sold, but I do remember the joy of sitting up a little flower stand and making money from my grandmother's flower garden--with her permission, of course.

My grandmother was an expert gardener and grew every flower, tree, and vegetable she could get her hands on. Gardening was her love and hobby, as it was with many housewives of her time.

We wore flowers on important occasions. I remember the ladies in my family wearing big corsages of orange chrysanthemums to the University of Tennessee football games. We would dress up for games back then. Women wore fur coats, hats, high heels, and gloves. Men would wear nice slacks, a wool sports coat or overcoat, a wool/felt fedora hat, and leather gloves. It was always a very special event.

On Easter, we ladies (young and old) wore beautiful, big white or purple orchids to church, pinned to our finest outfit. And on Mother's Day, we wore carnations or roses--red if your mother was alive or white if she had passed away. Each flower had meaning in those days: the white or pink petals of the dogwoods represented the Crucifixion of Christ and the white Easter Lily represented the Resurrection; the daisy denoted innocence and a lover's promise of "I'll never tell"; the orchid sent the message of refinement and was the most beautiful of all exotic flowers; dark red roses stood for mourning; rosebuds signified youth and were given as gifts to young girls or sent as gifts to the mothers of new-born babies; wearing a striped carnation said "I am missing you" and of course, the common four leaf clover meant good luck. Black roses should NEVER be touched or given, because they signaled death. They were also very rare.

When I was young, a woman was not only judged by how white her washing was, as it hung on the clothes line in the yard, but also by her ability to grow beautiful flowers and vegetables. I think it must have represented (to her neighbors, anyway) her feminine nurturing abilities.

Flowers have long been associated with various holidays and the colors of flowers with emotion and messages. Below I've mentioned flower colors and their meanings.

Yellow - Happiness, Enthusiasm, Friendship, Jealousy, Treachery, Pride, Success and Luxury

Orange - Satisfaction of attaining success and strengthened love

Violet - Hope, Generosity, Faithfulness, Modesty, Passion, Humility

Red - Passion, Love, Admiration, Courage, Desire, Constancy, Youth, Respect

Green - Feeling of joy and optimism

White - Pious, Purity, Heavenly, Sincere feeling, Innocence, Silence

Lavender - Feminism, Grace, elegance

Pink - Delicate, Grace, Gentle, Confidence, Admiration


~Do you have a "childhood" memory of flowers?