Look at this lovely bouquet of flowers given to us by some friends. If you look closely you will see that the flowers are not in fact flowers but rolled up baby vests. Cool uh? Wifey particularly loved it. She normally doesn’t see the point of flowers. “Why give someone things that die within a week?” she says. To her flowers are useless. They are impractical, temporary, and they are not an investment. But that’s precisely their power. You buy them for no reason other than because your wife likes them. You do it just for her. This is the very definition of romance—doing something pointless, just to express love. Nobody needs flowers, they won\’t be around forever, but someone you love likes them, so you buy them.
She says “If you love me tidy up the house a bit more often. Or get me gold jewellery.” But she is in the minority, Whether they are hand delivered or are delivered from a florists in London giving flowers is big business and this made me ponder on why do we give people flowers? Where did the tradition come from? A bit of googling suggests that it is routed in Victorian times and the secret language of flower bouquets. Back in the 19th century, people often had entire conversations without speaking a word through flowers. A married woman for instance, might have left an arrangement of begonia and monkshood on her entryway table to warn a lover that her husband was home. Begonia signifies the need for caution and Monkshood warns of a deadly foe. A young man might have caressed the petals of a viscaria while making eye contact with a young woman. If she in turn touched a striped carnation, his hopes of a dance were dashed on the red and white petals of a lovely flower. While young lovers living under the eagle eye of disapproving guardians might have worn a spray of spider flower to show the desire to elope. Conversely, one may have worn the spider flower while the other wore a yellow carnation. I reckon florists in Bath back then must have made a fortune with all that repressed sexual tension. Today we give flowers for their beauty and their scent. We don’t need them to speak for us anymore. Thanks to modern technology you can call or e mail a florists in Brighton and have them deliver a bouquet even if you are Manchester.
Brought to you by Interflora.