13 Things - A Bouquet Of Facts About Flowers

1 According to the ‘language of flowers,’ known as floriography, each month can be symbolized by a flower. June has the rose, symbolizing affection, and the honeysuckle, which represents devotion in love.

- Samantha Rideout

The trend of using flowers to express emotions, which popularized the idea that red roses mean love, is credited to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, an 18th-century English poet and the wife of a British ambassador to Turkey. Interest in the concept of floriography grew across Europe and eventually led to a French book, published in 1819, called Le langage des fleurs by Charlotte de Latour.

2 The messages that flowers were used to convey weren’t always about love and happiness: Marigolds meant contempt, according to some manuals, and yellow roses could mean jealousy. (Florists now market yellow roses as a symbol of friendship.)

3 Flowers can also have religious significance. For example, the Lilium longiflorum (Easter lily) is mentioned in the Bible as a symbol of purity and rebirth and is associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The lotus flower signifies enlightenment for Buddhists because it grows in the mud but remains clean, thanks to its naturally water-repellent leaves.

4 Blooms are big business: The industry’s leading auction company, Royal FloraHolland, sells more than 20 million flowers and plants each day. The Netherlands has dominated exports for decades, but the market is growing in Kenya, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Colombia. There’s even a dedicated cargo area for flowers at the international airport in Nairobi, Kenya. The Indian floriculture market size reached `231.7 billion in 2022. Altogether, the global flower industry earns more than US$30 billion.