Q Every year for Valentine's Day I gave my sweetheart red roses. However this year I would like to give her some different kind of flowers.
Could you give me some ideas on different flowers. Also would you be able to tell me the meaning of these flowers? -Jessie, Windsor
A Roses are traditional, but other flowers are becoming increasingly popular as Valentine's Day gifts for that special person in your life. For years I gave my sweetheart red roses also.
Then a couple years ago I switched for a different flower.
My choice for my wife, was a dozen long stem red carnations which symbolizes love, pride and admiration. A few years ago my wife gave me a card for Valentine's Day and that card had the meanings of many different flowers. Some examples are:
Roses: The love language of different coloured roses have many meanings.
Red roses say, quite simply, "I love you" and are the traditional roses for Valentine's Day because they represent beauty and perfection. Orange roses might make the boldest statement on Valentine's Day. They represent desire and enthusiasm, symbolize passion and anticipation and definitely articulate pensioned romance. If you are newlyweds, give your husband or wife white roses. They mean innocence and purity and are traditionally associated with marriages and new beginnings.
Carnation: Symbolizes pride and beauty. A red carnation symbolizes love, pride and admiration; a pink carnation symbolizes the love of a woman or a mother.
A purple carnation symbolizes capriciousness. A yellow carnation symbolizes disdain, rejection or disappointment while a white carnation symbolizes innocence and pure love. A striped carnation conveys refusal.
Alstroemeria: Wealth, prosperity, fortune and friendship.
Amaryllis: Splendid beauty. It is used to indicate worth beyond beauty.
Anemone: On a darker note indicates fading hope and a feeling of having been forsaken. On a positive note it symbolizes anticipation.
Anthurium: Hospitality, happiness and abundance.
Aster: Patience, elegance and daintiness.
Bird of Paradise: Joyfulness, magnificence, and wonderful anticipation.
Calla Lily: Symbolizes magnificence and beauty. White Calla lilies combine these two attributes with purity and innocence.
Chrysanthemum: Symbolizes fidelity, optimism, joy and long life. A red chrysanthemum conveys love; a white chrysanthemum symbolizes truth and loyal love while a yellow chrysanthemum symbolizes slighted love.
Daffodil: Symbolizes regard and chivalry. It is indicative of rebirth, new beginnings and eternal life. It also symbolizes unrequited love. A single daffodil foretells a misfortune while a bunch of daffodils indicate joy and happiness.
Daisy: Symbolizes innocence and purity. It conveys loyal love and "I will never tell."
Delphinium: Symbolizes big-heartedness, fun, lightness and levity. It also indicates ardent attachment.
Forget-me-not: Which blooms in white, blue and lavender, means true love, hope, and of course, remembrance or memories, which may reflect on wonderful times together.
Freesia: Symbolizes innocence and thoughtfulness.
Gardenia: Symbolizes you're lovely, secret love, joy, sweet love, good luck.
Gerbera: Belongs to the daisy family and therefore assumes the symbolism associated with the daisy flower. Gerbera specifically conveys cheerfulness.
Gladiolus: Symbolizes strength of character, faithfulness and honour. The Gladiolus flower signifies remembrance.
Heather: While white heather symbolizes protection and indicates that wishes will come true.
Hyacinth: Playfulness and a sporty attitude and in its extreme rashness and constancy. Blue hyacinth stands for constancy, purple for sorrow, red or pink for play, white for loveliness and yellow for jealousy.
Hydrangea: Heartfelt emotions. It can be used to express gratitude for being understood. In its negative sense hydrangea symbolizes frigidity and heartlessness.
Iris: Symbolizes eloquence. Purple iris is symbolic of wisdom and compliments. Blue iris symbolizes faith and hope.
Yellow iris symbolizes passion while white iris symbolizes purity.
Jasmine: White symbolizes amiability, while yellow symbolizes grace, elegance
Larkspur: Symbolizes levity or lightness. It is also indicative of fickleness and haughtiness.
Flowers are looked upon as a very personal, intimate or cherished gift, so it matters not which flowers you may choose, to give on Valentine's Day.
Also as long that you remember your sweetheart for any or all occasion or just when your thinking of your loved one, flowers are very nice to receive or to give.
Send a question to the Master Gardener hotline, (519) 561-6328 or email essexwindsor@mastergardeners. fastmail.fm
