May Gift Flowers

Lilies of the Valley are dainty fragrant shade plants. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

May Gift Flowers

Some of my May flowers are making an early showing this year. Peonies, Iris and Oxeye daisies will be blooming within the week, a good 3 weeks earlier than past years. One of my favorite fragrant spring flowers are also making an early appearance, Lilies of the Valley.

Here’s a photo of the Lilies of the Valley with a few other flowers in a vase in my kitchen. They are small delicate flowers and pack a lovely punch of scent. Only a few sprigs will easily fill a bathroom.

Lilies in the valley with pink dianthus and a red salvia spring in my kitchen. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Lilies of the Valley have also become a favorite wedding bouquet. A florist contacted me last year looking for some, apparently a bouquet of just Lilies of the Valley for a bride retail for $500.

As the May gift flower, Lilies of the Valley represent humility and happiness.

I planted mine several decades ago. I now encourage them to grow in shady areas and can make a pretty ground cover under trees. Their little bell-like flowers are popular with garden fairy scenes.

Yes, I said $500 for a bridal bouquet of Lilies of the Valley; last year prices!

Charlotte

April Gift Flowers

Pheasant’s Eye Daffodils are welcoming April on my hillside. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

April Gift Flowers

I’m out of luck - or maybe out of season - to provide the traditional April gift flowers. Daisy and Sweet peas bloom much later in USDA Hardiness zone 5. Where I live, they bloom in June.

To keep the spirit of the daisy, I am substituting Pheasant’s eye daffodils for the April gift flower. Similar to daisies in shape and color, these are mid-to-late spring season bloomers in mid-Missouri.

Pheasant’s Eye Daffodils have a beautiful center. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

To give flowers from your garden, check thrift stores and garage sales for a supply of vases. I keep a handful in a garage cabinet so I can share flowers whenever the spirit moves me. There are few things that cheer someone up as much as a fresh bouquet of garden flowers.

In the Victorian-era “Language of Flowers,” daisies symbolize beauty, innocence, love or purity.

They can also mean "I'll never tell." So let’s not tell that we made a substitute, shall we?

Charlotte

February Gift Flowers

The original African violets from which hybrids are bred. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

February Gift Flowers

February birthdays are represented by violets or irises, flowers that suggest loyalty and faithfulness. The irony is that in USDA Hardiness zone 5, February is still winter so neither violets or iris are in bloom outside.

Inside, however, my African violets are putting on a lovely show this time of year. They get indirect light from the west in a corner of my office and remind me that violets come in many shapes and sizes.

Iris are also a personal favorite flower but they would be a better May gift flower where I live. The three upright petals of an iris bloom indicate courage, faith and wisdom, or friendship, hope and compliments.

Floriography (language of flowers) is a means of communication through the use or arrangement of flowers. Meaning has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form has been practiced in traditional cultures throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Interest in floriography soared in England and the US during the 19th century. Gifts of blooms, plants, and specific floral arrangements were used to send a coded message to the recipient, allowing the sender to express feelings which could not be spoken aloud in Victorian society.

Armed with floral dictionaries, Victorians often exchanged small "talking bouquets", called nosegays or tussie mussies, which could be worn or carried as a fashion accessory. The Victorians in the 1800s went to great lengths to send messages through flowers. Their “language of flowers” was used by many suitors to court. The vestiges of those days celebrating secret messages in botanicals remain today in the monthly gift flowers.

Charlotte