A Garden View: The language of flowers
As I watched the steady flow of red roses arriving on the desks of my co-workers this week, I was reminded that the power of love is easily outdistanced by the power of blooms.
Love and flowers are eternally linked, especially on Valentine's Day, but while we send bouquets to express our amour, flowers also are delivered when we are ill, when we are sad, when we are celebrating and when we are mourning.
Forget learning Chinese or French; the clearest language is communicated in flower petals. Or at least that's what the Victorians believed, and I'm starting to become a convert.
The Victorians were an incredibly complicated group. They insisted upon adding frills and fringe to every aspect of their lives, which in turn made it much more difficult to enjoy the comforts of home. Just completing their laundry was a multiday task, so I have no idea how they also found time to explore the language of flowers.
Mandy Kirkby, an editor and flower enthusiast in Cambridge, England, has recently published a book that unlocks those secrets. In fact, "A Victorian Flower Dictionary" (Ballantine Books, $22) may make you look at that Valentine's bouquet in a completely different light.
