Flowers - Expressing Our Feelings

Whether it be a bouquet or a single stem, nothing is used quite as often to represent both our deepest-felt joys and our hardest-felt sorrows as are flowers. Available in a dizzying array of sizes, colors, and scents, the perfect arrangement of flowers can express nearly any emotion.

The history of expressing feeling with flowers goes back a long way. The French in the 1800s even went so far as to publish flower dictionaries to organize the meaning and proper usage of each flower species. Details such as which direction a marigold faced amidst a bouquet made all the difference between mourning and celebration.

Today, presenting flowers is not only a kind act, but is also a hard bound custom. Most of our important rituals surrounding birth, marriage or death blend with various styles of flowers as a necessity. While white lilies, lilacs and roses find their presence in a memorial ceremony to present due regards to our dear departed ones, bright blooms of flowers find their way in almost all maternity wards. For that matter, a bride is incomplete till she carries a bouquet with her.

Weddings are perhaps the time to be most creative with an arrangement of flowers. Dating back to earlier times, flowers and herbs were believed to ward off evil spirits and protect the bride as she embarked upon her new life. Before the ceremony, many couples used specific flowers to send messages to one another during their courtship.

Following are some examples of what the emotions are conveyed by specific flowers:
- Daisies and Lilacs denote youthful Innocence,
- Love is expressed by Tulips and Red Roses,
- Lemon Blossoms convey fidelity in relationship
- When the emotion is faithfulness it has to be violets.

Flowers can strongly relate to specific personalities and hence can act as personal tributes as well. Even though the irises are more formally accepted as funeral offering, branches and ferns would be more befitting a tribute to someone who has been an avid outdoorsman all his life. Similarly, chrysanthemums though denote the expression of serious love but a girl named Chrissy might just be delighted to have them as her first date gift!

As the old adage goes that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, the expression the bouquet conveys is dependent on the understanding of the recipient. The appeal of Red Roses as a romantic gift is universal and can be understood everywhere. However a grouping of poppies signifying extravagance may find it difficult to penetrate many minds. If a flower or an arrangement speaks to you then perhaps bright colors best establish your happiness on success at professional level or a promotion while a single lily may remind you of someone loved at home even though it is normally considered a funeral flower.

The colors, the varieties, the sizes, the combinations... flowers can combine to create an endless number of expressions and sentiments. The fresh aroma of newly-emerged roses can capture the memories of a childhood summer better than the most vivid journal entries and home movies. Breathe in the fragrance, take in the vivid coloring, and enjoy expressing that which cannot quite be put into words with flowers.