Know What Those Flowers Actually Mean

Assalamualaikum,

Everyone loves getting flowers whether it’s for your birthday, graduation, an anniversary, or just because it’s a Thursday!

But what does it really mean to give a flower? This tradition has been around for hundreds of years and flowers have come to mean and symbolise many different things during different eras of history. The type of flower you give can even have diverse meanings in different parts of the world!

So what’s the first flower that comes to mind when you think of sending someone a bouquet? I’m guessing you’re probably thinking of roses, right?

1. ROSES

Roses are the go-to choice of boyfriends and husbands the world over for occasions like Valentine's Day, birthdays and anniversaries. They probably don’t know that the different colours of roses represent different sentiments.

Red: ‘I Love You’

Dark pink: ‘Thank You'

Light pink: Admiration and sympathy,

Yellow: Happiness and friendship,

White: Honour or remembrance,

Purple: Enchantment

Orange: Enthusiasm and captivation (great for a new relationship!).

2. ORCHIDS

One of the other most popular flowers are orchids. Orchids are also often used to tell a special person that you love them. Like the rose, different coloured orchids stand for different meanings and emotions.

Red: Passion and desire

Pink: Joy and happiness

Purple: Admiration and respect (good for a boss!)

Yellow: Friendship

Orange: Boldness and pride.

Green: If youre trying to wish someone good luck

3. LILIES

Are those wedding bells I hear? Lilies are a popular wedding flower choice. In China, they signify 100 years of love (now how romantic is that?!). There are not many different colours of lilies, but even so, each type symbolises a very different and unique sentiment.

Traditional white: Purity

Red: Passion!

Yellow or gold: For someone who is sick as they represent good health and healing.

Stargazer Lily (a striped pink colour): Ambition and encouragement!

4. CARNATION

Maybe it’s not a special someone you’re shopping for, but trying to figure out what to get your mom for Mother’s Day? Trust me, we’ve all done that last minute rush trying to find the perfect bouquet of flower to show mom just how much we appreciate everything she does for us. Well, carnations are the way to go. Carnations, while being the Mother’s Day flower of choice for cultures around the world, also have an extremely interesting history!

During Victorian times, people would use flower to send messages to secret crushes. The crush would then send some carnations back, and the colour of these flowers would be their answer to your declaration of love! Much more exciting than a text message!

So a solid coloured carnation meant “I want to be with you”, a striped carnation said “I’m sorry, but I can’t be with you” and a yellow carnation, well that was just a straight up “No”. Let;s stay away from yellow carnations for any significant others then, shall we?  And if the carnations are going to your mom, best to stick with red, white or pink varieties.

5. DAFFODILS

Looking to spread a little inspiration and creativity? Daffodils are a lovely and fresh way to do just that! This type of flower is definitely inspirational because it is the first to bloom in the spring and means that dreary and awful winter is finally on the way out! Daffodils are even the official symbol of Chinese New Year because they symbolise such positive and cheery emotions. And if you’re going to a 10th anniversary party, make sure to pick some up because this is the traditional flower to celebrate that huge milestone.

6. SUNFLOWERS

Could your desk or cubicle use a little pick me up? Get yourself some sunflowers! Sunflowers stand for good luck, happiness and is a symbol of working towards your dreams and goals. So not only will these blooms brighten up your workspace, they’ll give you that little extra boost to keep you working towards the important things in life!

It’s really amazing that flowers can have so many different meanings and hold so much symbolisation. If you’ve gotten some serious flower-spiration after learning about this and want to buy a bouquet for a loved one right now, head on over to Flowerchimp.com for some of the freshest blooms in Malaysia!