The flower as a "messenger of the heart" became hugely popular in the nineteenth century, when people dreamt of the age of courtly love and faithfulness that made use of the sentimental "language of flowers".

Victorian Language of Flowers

The Victorian Language of Flowers was born from a strong need to communicate powerful emotions such as; love, hate and rejection..
Expressing these emotions verbally was widely frowned upon and not readily permitted, in a society governed by strict social rules.

In such a prim and proper society, suppressed human emotions became extremely motivating.  Young couples hoping to court, looked cleverly for ways to overcome such stifling restrictions.

Secret messages using the Meaning of Flowers

Cunningly, a system was devised in which secret messages could be passed from one person to another, using the meaning of flowers. 

Messages of love, rejection and hate would pass through the social ranks daily and create great joy or heartbreak for the recipient, based on what blooms were included in their nosegay gifted by a beau, whether the flower was included in bud form or open and even what colour the bouquet came in.

The Victorian Language of Flowers became so widely used, that books explaining language etiquette date back from as early as 1818.

Today, many brides do consider the meaning of flowers as a romantic nod towards tradition, but upon researching this fun topic, you will come across many meanings attributed to each flower and colour, so consider it fun and whimsical and perhaps not take it too seriously.

Other pages you may be interested in are: