_Oh, flowers, you darlings of Nature,
How lovely and sweet are you;
But the first to give you a meaning
Was a lover faithful and true.
May you convey what I would impart
To the maiden who’s captured my heart._
—GOLDSMITH.
There is a sentiment about flowers which appeals to the heart of
everyone. The lover conveys his message of love, the friend, his token
of friendship thru a bouquet or box of blooming flowers. Every incident
of our busy and eventful lives can be celebrated by the gift of
flowers. Births, christenings, birthdays, graduations, confirmations,
weddings, anniversaries and funerals:—all are appropriately observed
by the sending of plants or blossoms. It is not strange, therefore,
that among most nations a sentimental language has been created in
which the flower speaks its part and repeats the message of the heart.
While there is no fixed vocabulary, the following table gives the
sentiments most frequently associated with flowers.
By combining flowers, various shades of sentiment can be expressed and
whole messages conveyed.