From the flowers carried as a favourable charm to the flowers that became a tourist address in Arizona , many flowers have a enthralling chronicle . Here are some flower legend that adopt some of our most darling blooms .
When I ’m learning how to distinguish different flowers and their names , I find it always help if I know the chronicle behind the flowers . Even just one cool fact makes the name reefer !
Over time , I ’ve get word many legends about flower , and some are just so enchanting . Whether it ’s where it got its name , how it was used , or what it present , many flower legends come from all corners of the world .
I readA Short account of Flowers : The tale That Make Our Gardensby Advolly Richmond and absolutely loved the dissimilar story she evidence about many common flower you might find in your garden . I want to feature some awful heyday legends with the help of Advolly !
Here are the flower legends we ’ll be exploring …
take out with permit fromA unretentive account of Flowers(Frances Lincoln , an imprint of The Quarto Group , 2023 ) by Advolly Richmond . A Short History of Flowerspublishes March 7 , 2024 , and can be purchased wherever o.k. books are sold . read more atquarto.com .
California Poppy
Eschscholzia californica
TheCalifornia poppyis native to the western United States , and as you could guess , is one of the main wildflower spotted in California . It became California ’s State Department flower in 1903 .
“ The plant ’s fiery , orangish - coloured flowers earned the name ‘ copa del ora ’ , which think of ‘ cups of gold , ’ draw on the legend that the orange aureate petal of theEschscholzia californicafilled the soil with the same cherished metal , ” says Advolly . “ No one could have anticipated just how prophetical this would be when the California Gold Rush came in the 1850s . ”
The First Nations peoples of California valued the plant for itsmedicinal function , using it to reduce headaches , as a natural antidepressant , as a sleep aid , to reduce stress , and more .
In most late chronicle , Meghan Markle as Duchess of Sussex included the California poppy in her fresh coat of armsafter marrying Prince Harry , honouring her heritage and provenance .
Daylily
Hemerocallis spp .
When I ’m walking through the streets of Vancouver , you ca n’t go a few houses without seeing the brilliant blooms of daylilies in the summertime .
“ Daylilies were known to the early Roman , Greek , and Egyptian MD from plants bring from China along the silk itinerary about 2,000 years ago . Northern Europe only learned of them in the 16th center , withHemerocallis fulvaintroduced in 1576 , ” say Advolly .
Where daylilies grow , no one is quite sure . The theory is that the flora began as a chance seedling that then became crop . In China , the bloom legend was that eating the blooms could alleviate sadness .
I myself screw daylilies as anedible ornamental . The root tubers can be fix like you would a potato and the flowers can be eaten in a salad or to garnish a sweet .
English Lavender
Lavandula angustifolia
There are few masses who do n’t love the calming smell oflavender . As a known medicinal herb and aromatherapy staple , lavender is used to perfume many home and beauty merchandise and as a decorative chemical element itself when dried .
Lavender has been a European garden staple since the medieval period , used to cleanse laundry and as an insect repellant .
“ When Queen Victoria declared her love of lavender , it incited a religious cult - similar reaction which drove the fashion for all - thing lavender , leading to the rapid growth of the English lavender industry , ” says Advolly .
To this solar day , I think the lavender craze still remains impregnable . The plant life is a origination for many of my own formula , includinglavender linen waterandlavender bath SALT .
Find all my lilac project in this post .
Lilac
Syringa vulgaris
mouth of beautiful scents , we ca n’t draw a blank thelilac . While traditionally a spring bloom , the rise popularity of lilac led to the French impel blooms .
“ The art of forcing lilac bloom commercially , especially for the white variation , had been practised in France as ahead of time as 1774 in caves and cellars , ” says Advolly . “ Because , remarkably , no matter the innate shade of the flower , when non - white lilacs are forced in the darkness , they produce livid flowers . ”
Today , we can farm ashen lilacs , but the common purple lilac remains the most pop . They live for X , often outlast the gardeners who imbed them . I inherited my own lilac tree when I bought my first home , and I gayly brought cuttings indoors to aromatise the whole house .
Lily of the Valley
Convallaria majalis
Longly dear , the lily of the vale was one of the first bloom to be grown in cultivated gardens . It ’s highly beloved in France , where ithas its own festival on May 1 , ever since King Charles IX became enamor with the spring bloom .
On this day , family will wake up up early and direct into the woods to forage for the flowers and bring them to admirer and family to represent good fortune .
But the tycoon is n’t the only famed Frenchman to be captivated by the lily of the valley .
“ Christian Dior often wear the flowerin his button hole just as his models sported outlandish boutonnieres on the catwalk , ” says Advolly . “ to assure that he had a unceasing provision of the prime , Dior ’s personal flower store , Madame Paule Dedeban , raise it all year around in a heated greenhouse so that the designer was never without his spring bloom . ”
Love-in-a-Mist
Nigella damascena
A signature bungalow - style bloom , the love - in - a - mist has precious stone - comparable prime that sit down atop feathery , fennel - like parting . Once the flower is pass away , a pretty seed pod take its property , realise it a highly ornamental flower .
It was a rough-cut garden flower in Europe by the 16thcentury , even once considered too common and not worth maturate by some . But one of the most pop varieties , ‘ Miss Jekyll ’ , was bred by Miss Gertrude Jekyll in the 1800s in her own cottage garden after days of careful pick .
While you might expect the prime to typify dear , its name actually comes from the appearance of the flowers floating atop all right foliage .
“ unreciprocated love life and longing also found meaning in the unusual flower – giving someone a bouquet ofN. damascenameant ‘ you puzzle me ’ but it could also indicate doubt , uncertainty , and even superfluity , ” says Advolly .
Snapdragon
Antirrhinum majus
snapdragon are such a alone prime , and I ’m sure I ’m not alone in twitch the flower to make the ‘ tartar ’s jaws ’ open and close . The ‘ flaming ’ of colour and a stamen spit might even poke out .
And if you ’ve ever let your snapdragons go to come , you ’ll see thattheir dried seedcase resemble tiny skull . Because of this , snapdragon were thought to offer auspices from witchery and even again .
Their appearing alone could bring all kinds of bloom legend . “ At the height of the Renaissance , newfangled powers were bestowed upon the humble snapdragon , ” articulate Advolly . “ If you ever set up yourself brusk on charm , it was believedwearing the blossom about your soul could miraculously enhance your societal standing , as the flower were said to give you charisma . ”
Well , who can say no to a minuscule charisma ! ?
Snowdrops
Galanthus nivalis
Before the tulips leaping , you’re able to witness snowdrops . They in truth are one of the first hallmarks of spring , albeit a subtle peak that might get missed upon a first look . Snowdrops will naturalize and form a colony , so they can linger for many years after earlier being institute .
“ Colonies of snowdrops are often found naturalised in many parts of the land at this time of year and , in most case , in the vicinity of the ruin of ancient monastery , churchyards , and other religious establishment , relics of past pious spring traditions , ” says Advolly .
Snowdrops are used during the Christian festival Candlemas , where candles ( and snowdrop for their resemblance to a candle ’s fire ) celebrate Mary ’s purification in the Temple of Jerusalem .
The bloom has also been link to death due to its appearance and being found usually in necropolis . Their white petal resemble a corpse ’s weather sheet and the flag heads like sombre mourners .
Sweet Pea
Lathyrus odoratus
Sweet peas are another bungalow garden favourite , where themulti - coloured butterfly stroke flowers climb atop fences and trellises . And , of form , make out and brought inside , where their smell fills the room .
In the 1800s , the popularity for the blossom rise in Europe and by the later 1800s , desire for the flower had circulate to America too .
Davis describes one family , the Nakagawa category , as well as a group of other Japanese - American families who sought to establish unexampled farm in Arizona after they were incarcerated during WWII . The Nakagawa ’s flower farm grew many flowers , let in mellifluous peas .
“ In former summer , visitors locomote across country to corrupt bouquets from the flower remain firm or just to drive past the field , ” says Advolly . “ The perfume was say to carry for miles , and driver would seethe down their windows to make the most of the beautiful scent as they drove by mile after mile . ”
The flower farm belonging to these Japanese families were a highly sought - after goal . The farms no longer survive today , the soil being sold to developer over fourth dimension . But how I wish I could have paid a sojourn !
Zinnia
Zinnia elegans
In comparison to other bloom on this list , it take a while for old maid flower to uprise to the ranks of a must - have garden flower . By the Victorian eld , they were all the rage , and the breeding and cultivation of the plant life took off .
Clementine Hunter was a folk artist who found plenty of inspiration in zinnias . bear on a cotton grove in Louisiana , Hunter picked cotton before becoming a domesticated servant at Melrose Plantation , a freehanded hideaway for artists .
“ In 1939 , at the age of fifty - two , while cleaning a latterly vacated guest room , she came across discarded tubes of paint and brushes left by a confabulate artist , ” says Advolly . “ Hunter , who never learnt to say or save , start to paint . One of her first paintings in that year was on a art object of curated composition board and style Bown of Zinnias , a preferent field of study that she invariably returned to over the years . ”
Little did she make love that one of her zinnia paintings would go on to be displayed at the Louvre . And like Clementine , many of us continue to be infatuated with the zinnia flower .
