Flowers UK London

All throughout the UK the Flower Show season is upon us!

Check your local press and you might be lucky enough to find a flower show  near you this weekend.
Shows can include displays by dogs, archery, clowns and stiltwalkers; sales of bric-a-brac ; funfairs; crafts but always important is the main flower growing competition.

Local rivalries can burn on for years over who has the better dahlias or sweetpeas, best pot plant display or best floral arrangement. There is never any valuable prizes, just the glory of victory.

And what is there for us non-competitors? A fine day out in summer with plenty to do and see!

Gardeners in Beijing are working furiously to plant 40 million flowers throughout the city in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics in August.
Workers are expected to plant 5 million pots surrounding venues where the Games will take place, China’s Official Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.

Some of the flowers will be sculpted and arranged to exhibit ancient Chinese culture, while the majority of them will be put in the ground, the report said.

Zhou Jianping, an official from Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, said 100 types of flowers that can withstand humidity and heat were selected to prepare for the possibility of extreme weather.

The flowers should all be planted by July 15, Xinhua said.
Source:upi.com

Once upon a time, a young lady prepared for her prom evening. The dress, the shoes, the hair and the make up were considered individually and with great care. But… What about the flowers?!?

Boutonnières were an essential part of the male’s attire. These typically are made up of a single flower or bud which is pushed through the buttonhole of a jacket. These, however are often omitted these days. Why not revive the tradition?

Wrist Corsages were, in earlier years, an unforgettable aspect of a celebration. The young lady would be offered a wrist corsage by her date who would own a matching boutonnière. These would often consist of a small bouquet of flowers worn at the shoulder, waist or even on the wrist. However, just like the boutonnières, the presence of corsages for proms or balls has been neglected, so why not inaugurate a new fashion right back from the past to your celebration?

White freesia harmonises with lavender grape hyacinth to create a fresh look right out of another century!

For a traditional vibe, do consider red roses and white baby’s breath in a beautiful and breathtaking assemble!

For a more contemporary, bright as well as fresh look, why not choose a corsage composed of a simple pink cymbidium orchid?

Back in mediaeval times medicine and witchcraft were not too far apart. Some of the treatments in use then were found in more modern times to have a genuine therapeutic effect.
Many traditional medical remedies make use of plant ingredients

St John’s Wort for depression
Opium Poppy for pain or to help sleep (morphine derivatives)
Ginger for morning sickness, motion sickness
Ginkgo Biloba for blood circulation, memory loss, depression and asthma
Evening Primrose (menopausal symptoms)
There are also the Bach traditional Flower remedies, created by a Harley Street Doctor in the 1930s who felt that many common ailments could be treated with flower based tinctures of which he created 38 different varieties to be used alone or in combination.

- Le 14 février : La St Valentin: période dite “des amoureux” pendant laquelle il est d’usage d’offrir des fleurs a sa compagne (des roses rouges généralement).

- Le dimanche des Rameaux: Le dimanche avant Pâques les catholiques vont à l’église avec une petite branche de rameau ou de buis (un arbuste avec de très petites feuilles).

- Le 1er mai: fête du travail- Pendant ce jour férié on s’offre un petit bouquet de muguet. 13 petites fleurs blanches sur un brin portent Bonheur.

- Pâques: période durant laquelle on offre des chocolats.

- La fête des mères: cette fête est en général à la fin du mois de mai (25 Mai). On offre généralement des fleurs, chocolats.

Les fleurs les plus offertes pour la fête des mères : pivoine, renoncule, rose

- La pivoine est une fleur qui émerge pas à pas en France.

Anémone : persévérance

Azalée : joie d’aimer

Bleuet : timidité

Chrysanthème : longévité

Dahlia : reconnaissance

Freesia : résistance

Glaïeul : rendez-vous

Iris : bonne nouvelle

Jonquille : affection

Laurier : triomphe

Lavande : tendresse, loyauté

Lilas : première émotion

Lis : majesté

Marguerite : simplicité

Muguet : retour au bonheur

Myosotis : souvenir fidèle

Narcisse : égoïste

Olivier : paix

Oranger : virginité

Orchidée : ferveur

Pavot : sommeil

Primevère : jeunesse, soucis

Rose : amour

Tulipe : inconstance

Violette : modestie

Here are some more flower customs and superstitions that it could be useful to know about.

Let’s get down to numbers. In some countries it is customary to give an even number of flowers, in others odd numbers. In eastern Europe, the old European tradition of always giving an odd number of flowers is still followed today, all except 13, which is considered unlucky. Here at flowers24hours.co.uk we have created a special product to cater for this market with nineteen red roses in a bouquet.
In Japan, ensure you are not giving the “bad luck” number of four and nine flowers per bouquet.

Potted plants are not appropriate to give as a gift in Asia. A plant symbolizes that your relationship is restricted or bound up in a negative way.

The first day of the month of May is known as May Day. It is the time of year when warmer weather begins and flowers and trees start to blossom. It is said to be a time of love and romance. It is when people celebrate the coming of summer with lots of different customs that are expressions of joy and hope after a long winter.

Many of these customs are celebrated during the weekend before the May Day Bank Holiday: the first Monday in May. Garlands are made, a May Queen will be chosen, Morris Dancers appear and children dance around a Maypole. In some towns local customs are celebrated on other dates in May and might be called oakapple day or Garland Day.
Roman festival of Flora
Although summer does not officially begin until June, May Day really marks its beginning. May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess of fruit and flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. It was held annually from April 28th to May 3rd. This is still celebrated in Helston in Cornwall where they have an annual Floral Dance which involves the whole town.

In Victorian times the sending of coded love messages became a popular craze. The advantage was that you could flirt without there being any incriminating evidence.

In 1884 a whole book on the subject entitled, The Language of Flowers, by Jean Marsh and illustrated by Kate Greenaway, was published in London. It became popular and respected and has been the standard source for Victorian flower meanings ever since.

Selected Flower Meanings

Here are some selected flowers and their meanings, a short dictionary.

Almond flowers — Hope
Anemone — Forsaken
Aster — Symbol of love
Balm — Sympathy
Basil — Best wishes
Bay leaf — “I change but in death”
Bell flower, white — Gratitude
Bergamot — Irresistible
Bluebell — Constancy
Borage — Courage
Broom — Humility
Campanula — Gratitude
Carnation, pink — I’ll never forget you
Carnation, red — My poor heart aches for you
Carnation, striped — Refusal
China rose — Beauty always new
Chrysanthemum — Love
Clover, four leaved — “Be mine”
Daffodil — Regard
Daisy — Innocence, new-born, “I share your sentiment”
Fern — Sincerity
Forget-Me-Not — True love
Furze or Gorse — Enduring affection
French Marigold — Jealousy
Gardenia — Ecstasy
Gentian — Loveliness
Geranium — “You are childish”
Hare bell — Grief
Honeysuckle — Bonds of love
Heather — Admiration
Hyacinth — I am sorry, Please forgive me
Ivy — Fidelity, friendship, marriage
Jasmine — Grace
Jonquil — “I hope for return of affection”
Lavender — Luck, devotion
Lilac — First love
Lily — Purity, modesty
Lily of the Valley — Purity, the return of happiness
Lily, Calla — Beauty
Marigold — Health, grief or despair
Myrtle — Fidelity
Orchid — Love, beauty, refinement
Pansy — Loving thoughts
Periwinkle — Happy memory
Poppy, red — Consolation
Primrose — I can’t live without you
Rose, cabbage — Ambassador of love
Rose, red — Love
Rose, pink — Grace, beauty
Rose, yellow — Friendship
Snowdrop — Hope
Sweet Pea — Departure, tender memory
Sweet William — Gallantry
Tuberose — Voluptuousness
Tulip, red — My perfect lover, Reclamation of love
Violet — Loyalty, modesty, humility
Wheat — Riches of the continuation of life
Willow, weeping — Mourning
Wallflower — Fidelity
Yew — Sorrow

Flowers have always been used for decoration at weddings.

Some people choose the flowers at the wedding on the basis of their symbolic meaning. For example orange blossom has always been associated with weddings because it signifies purity and chastity.

Peonies are avoided by some as they represent shame; azaleas represent temperance: roses symbolise love and snowdrops represent hope.

A combination of red and white flowers is avoided by the superstitious because they stand for blood and bandages.

However, people from different regions may attach other meanings to the same flower. For example lilies symbolise majesty to some but are thought unlucky by others because of their association with death.

The groom often chooses a flower for his buttonhole which also occurs in the bride’s bouquet. This is a vestige of the time when a Knight would wear his Lady’s colours to display his love.

In certain parts of England there is a centuries old floral tradition of well dressing.

Well dressing almost certainly dates back to pagan times, when sacrifices were made to water gods for maintaining the supply of water and as an inducement to continue to do so. The sacrifices took both human and animal form, but gradually the cruelty and wastefulness of this method of giving thanks gave way to primitive man hanging garlands of flowers over the wells.

Water was such a vital commodity for ancient man that settlements were always located close to a good supply of fresh water and the consequences of the source running dry were dire. This led to many other countries offering thanks to water gods at pagan festivals and flowers were often used. In Italy, at Genzano, flowers were arranged to form a gigantic pattern along the village street, but in no other country were boards used to mount the display, as in Derbyshire.