Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Flower Arrangements
Flower arranging today is more than merely putting together a bunch of bright beautiful flowers in a pretty vase. Much thought goes into the art of each professionally designed bouquet.
The artistic nature of flower arrangement means that no strict rules need to be followed by designers, but there are three very distinct styles into which arrangements can be categorised.
The three styles of flower arrangements
Professional florists would categorise the styles of flower arrangements as such:
Traditional, oriental and modern flower arrangements.
Traditional flower design, also known as Western flower arrangements, is the time-honoured common flower arranging style where the design is enriched with a large number of beautiful, colourful flowers. Apart from the vase in which the flowers are arranged, almost no other accessories are used in this flower style.
Oriental flower design is the general term used to refer to Chinese or Japanese styles, where the focus is mainly on the appearance of the arrangement. The linear style of Oriental flower arrangements emphasise the negative spaces, floral forms and the textures used in the arrangement.
Japanese flower arrangement, also known as Ikebana, focus on the line of the twigs and leaves, rather than on the flowers themselves like in Western designs. The line of the twigs or leaves is combined with a small number of blooms and the design is complemented by the style of the container which is also a key element in the Ikebana style.
Modern flower arrangements are the aesthetic use of clean, sleek lines, but generally all the styling depends on the likes and dislikes of the designer. The design of such an arrangement does not follow the traditional outline of arranging flowers. Instead the use of different accessories is combined with the minimal use of bright flowers. Modern flower arrangements make use of ornamental geometric motifs and clean-lined containers to carry the geometric theme through into everyday life.
Why choose a Modern Flower Arrangement?
The great thing about modern flower arrangements is that there really are no boundaries. This style of flower arrangement is appropriate for most occasions and it is well suited as a gift to both men and women.
Most online florists have a wide variety of modern flower arrangements ready to order, although some would warn you that same-day delivery might not be possible, therefore you should confirm with your florist before you buy these flowers online.
Flower History
Evidence of flowers dating back to the prehistoric period have been discovered through Flower Fossils. There are traces of association of flowers with humans during the paleolithic age.
Archaeologists uncovered skeletons of a man, two women and an infant buried together in soil containing pollen of flowers in a cave in Iraq. This association of flowers with the cave dwelling Neanderthals of the Pleistocene epoch is indicative of the role of flowers in burial rituals.
Analysis of the sediment pollen concentrated in batches, implied that possible bunches of flowers had been placed on the grave. Closer examination of the flower pollen enabled scientists to identify many flowers that were present, all of which had some therapeutic properties. The use of flowers also testify abundant floral varieties available at that time.
People have used flowers to express their feelings, enhance their surroundings, and to commemorate important rituals and observances. All forms of art, depict the use of flowers: music, books, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, tapestries, etc. Some of the most opulent examples of source material are the flower pictures, produced by artists during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, which so accurately depict flowers in their incredible beauty.
Aster
There are over 600 species of aster, the most popular being the Monte Casino. Ancient people believed that the odor of its leaves, when burnt, drove away serpents. The English gave this flower two names, asters and starworts. Aster is Latin for star, and referred to its star-like shape. Wort meant root, which signified plants with healing properties. And Asters were laid on the graves of French soldiers to symbolize the wish that things had turned out differently.
CalendulaThe calendula is a member of the marigold family, and was traditionally valued as an herb, rather than its bright yellow blossoms. The Romans used Calendula mixed with vinegar to season their meat and salad dishes. Calendula blossoms in wine were purported to soothe indigestion, and the petals were used in ointments that cured skin irritations, jaundice, sore eyes, and toothaches.
Very early Christians called this flower Mary's Gold, and placed it by the statues of the Virgin Mary. Again associated with religion and healing, Calendula is the most sacred flower of ancient India… its flower heads were used to make garlands, which adorned holy statues.
The calendula's genus name, wor calendae, means throughout the months. Like sunflowers, Calendula's flower heads follows the sun.
Carnation
Carnations have been cultivated for the last 2,000 years, and they hail from the Near East. It is said that the name, Carnation, comes from Greece… carnis (flesh) refers to the original color of the flower, or perhaps the word incarnacyon (incarnation), which refers to the incarnation of God made flesh.
Another possibility… Carnation could come from "coronation" or "corone" (flower garlands), as it was one of the flowers used in Greek ceremonial crowns. This popular flower was also called dianthus by the Greek botanist Theopharastus.
Dahlia
An herbal document written in Latin just sixty years after the coming of Columbus was discovered 1929. It noted that the Aztecs used dahlias as a treatment for epilepsy. The Aztec culture in Mexico was quite advanced [see chocolatemonthclub.com] but its wealth of written records did not survive the introduction of Christianity. The Aztec Herbal is an astonishing and remarkable resource for botanists and those studying the history of Medicine.
Dahlias were late in coming to Europe. European scientific specialists considered the dahlia as a possible source of food since a disease had destroyed the French potato crop in the 1840s. But the beauty of the dahlia far surpassed its taste.
Before insulin was discovered diabetics were often given a diabetic sugar made from dahlia tubers. Chemicals derived from dahlias are used in clinical tests for liver and kidney functions.
Between 1800 and 1805, Lord and Lady Holland lived in France and in Spain where Lady Holland first saw dahlias that had been introduced to Spain about 15 years before. She sent some home to England and it is on the strength of that shipment that she is given credit for the introduction of the dahlia into England.
Delphinium
Delphinium is from the Greek word delphis, meaning dolphin… the flower resembles the bottle-like nose of a dolphin.
Delphiniums were used by West Coast Native Americans to make blue dye, and European settlers made ink from ground delphinium flowers. The most ancient use of Delphinium flowers was a strong external concoction thought to drive away scorpions.
Gladiolus
The Latin word gladius, meaning "sword," and this flower was named for the shape of its leaves. Gladiolus was also called "xiphium," from the Greek word xiphos, also meaning sword. This flower is said to have represented the Roman gladiators.
British Gladiolus used the stem base (corms) as a poultice and for drawing out thorns and splinters. A mixture of powdered corms and goat's milk was a favorite remedy for colic. In the 18th Century, African Gladioli were imported in large quantities to Europe from South Africa.
Holly
Medieval monks called this plant the Holy Tree. They believed Holly would keep evil spirits away, and protect their home from lightening. The early Romans decorated their hallways with garlands made from Holly for their mid-winter feast, Saturnalia.
Later its pointed leaves represented the crown of thorns worn by Jesus, and the red berries his drops of blood. Holly signified eternal life, and also represented the biblical burning bush in the Old Testament, when God appeared before Moses.
Lily
Lilies have been associated with many ancient myths, and pictures of lilies were discovered in a villa in Crete, dating back to the Minoan Period, about 1580 B.C.
Lilies are mentioned in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, they symbolize chastity and virtue. In both the Christian and pagan traditions, the lily is a fertility symbol. In Greek marriage ceremonies the bride wears a crown of lilies and wheat… purity and abundance. Lilies are also a symbol of death, and at one time lilies were placed on the graves of children.
The lily has no true medicinal value, although In Elizabethan times, lilies were one of the ingredients in medicines to treatment fever, or for cleaning wounds, burns and sores.
Rose
Molecular biologists, who use DNA molecules to estimate age, can trace roses back some 200 million years! The legends take root…. Cloris, goddess of flowers, crowned the rose as queen of the flowers. Aphrodite presented a rose to her son Eros, god of love. The rose became a symbol of love and desire.
Eros gave the rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to induce him not to gossip about his mother's amorous indiscretions. Thus the rose also became the emblem of silence and secrecy. In the middle ages a rose was suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber, pledging all present to secrecy, or sub Rosa, "under the rose".
The first cultivated roses appeared in Asian gardens more than 5,000 years ago. In ancient Mesopotamia, Sargon I, King of the Akkadians (2684-2630 B.C.) brought "vines, figs and rose trees" back from a military expedition beyond the River Tigris
Confucius wrote that during his life (551-479 B.C.), the Emperor of China owned over 600 books about the culture of Roses. The Chinese extracted oil of roses from the plants grown in the Emperor's garden. The oil was only used by nobles and dignitaries of the court. If a commoner were found in possession of even the smallest amount, he was condemned to death!
Roses were introduced to Rome by the Greeks. During feasts young men and women in Athens adorned a crown of roses and danced naked around the temple of Hymen to symbolize the innocence of the Golden Age.
Orchid
Orchid originates from Greece, where orchis, means testicle. Some orchids are called ladies' fingers, ladies' tresses, or long purples. Greek women thought that if the father of their unborn child ate large, new tubers, the baby would be a boy. If the mother ate small tubers, they would give birth to a baby girl.
The most famous orchid, the vanilla orchid, was said to give strength to the Aztecs, who drank vanilla mixed with chocolate.
During the 19th Century, Orchids were widely collected. There are nearly 25,000 varieties. It’s reproductive behavior has fascinated botanists for years… to germinate, an orchid's seeds need to be penetrated by fungus threads.
Poinsettia
Dr. Joel Roberts-Poinsett, the US Ambassador to Mexico, brought the first poinsettia to the United States in 1928. Poinsettias are known to grow as high as sixteen feet In Mexico. The scarlet color of the original Poinsettias is produced by its bracts… the leaf-like sections that grow before the flower appears.
Because Mexican legends say its bracts resemble the flower of Bethlehem, Poinsettias have the honor of decorating churches at Christmas time. Today, this flower is known worldwide as "the Christmas flower," and you can find shades of cream, pink and scarlet poinsettias adorning homes everywhere.
The Poinsettia is a member of the euphobia, or spurge family. The name originates from the Old French espurg. This plant was used during the Medieval times as a purgative to rid the body of black bile and melancholy.
Queen Anne's Lace
Queen Anne's Lace was named for Queen Anne, wife of King James I of England. The Queen's friends challenged her to create lace as beautiful as the flower.
The root of Queen Anne's Lace, also called "wild carrot," stimulates pigment production in human beings. North African natives chewed it to protect themselves from the sun.
Snapdragons
We know that Snapdragons were common in the earliest gardens, but their actual origin is not known. Some botanists believe they grew wild in Spain and Italy. In the British countryside, children would gently squeeze the sides of the flower to open and close the "dragon's" mouth.
Sunflower
These flowers always turn towards the sun. They originated in Central and South America, and were grown for their usefulness, not their beauty. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro reported seeing the natives of the Inca Empire in Peru worshipping a giant sunflower. Incan priestesses wore large sunflower disks made of gold on their garments.
Sunflowers represented different meanings in many cultures. In China they symbolized longevity. In the Andes Mountains, golden images of sunflowers were found in temples. And North America Indians in the prairies placed bowls of sunflower seeds on the graves of their dead.
Tulip
Over a thousand years ago, Tulips grew wild in Persia, and near Kabul the Great Mogul Baber counted thirty-three different species. The word tulip is thought to be a corruption of the Turkish word for turbans. Persian poets sang its praises, and their artists drew and painted it so often, that all of Europe considered the tulip to be the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.
There are people in the world who eat some varieties tulip bulbs, and Japan makes a flour from them. The Dutch have eaten tulip bulbs when no other food was available.
Wealthy people began to purchase tulip bulbs that were brought back from Turkey by Venetian merchants. In 1610, fashionable French ladies wore corsages of tulips, and many fabrics were decorated with tulip designs. In the seventeenth century, a small bed of tulips was valued at 15,000-20,000 francs. The bulbs became a currency, and their value was quoted like stocks and shares.
Tulipmania flourished between 1634-1637… just like the California Gold Rush, people abandoned jobs, businesses, wives, homes and lovers to become tulip growers. The frenzy spread from France, through Europe to the Low Countries.
It is recorded that a Dutchman paid thirty-six bushels of wheat, seventy-two of rice, four oxen, twelve sheep, eight pigs, two barrels of wine and four of beer, two tons of butter, a thousands pounds of cheese, a bed, clothes, and a silver cup… for one Vice-Roi bulb! Hopefully he didn’t eat it.
The crazed population was obsessed beyond reason. Records show one buyer paying twelve acres of land, another buyer paying with his new carriage and twelve horses. The best story… after paying for a bulb with its weight in gold, the new owner heard that a cobbler possessed the same variety. He bought the cobbler’s bulb and crushed it, to increase the value of his first bulb.
The Dutch shipped hundreds of thousands of tulip bulbs to Ottawa, Canada, after World War II to show their gratitude to Canadian soldiers for freeing Holland from the German occupation, and for welcoming Queen Maria to reside in Ottawa while the war raged on.
The wealthy speculated on tulip shares. [The word bourse is derived from the mania… speculators held their meetings at the house of the noble family, Van Bourse.] Most of the bulbs were grown in Flanders by monks. Bulbs were traded like stock using paper representation of ownership. About ten million bulbs were represented in the market. In 1637, speculation became illegal, many people, especially in Holland, were ruined as prices fell.
An eighteenth century manuscript notes that the Sheik Mohammed Lalizare, official tulip grower of Ahmed(1703-1730) counted 1,323 varieties. Tulips are still popular and there are many exotic varieties that we enjoy in our gardens.
Violet
When Napoleon married Josephine, she wore violets, and on each anniversary Josephine received a bouquet of violets. Following Napoleon’s lead, the French Bonapartists chose the violet as their emblem, and nicknamed Napoleon "Corporal Violet". In 1814, Napoleon asked to visit Josephine's tomb before being exiled to the Island of St. Helena. When he died, he wore a locket around his neck that contained violets he had picked from Josephine’s gravesite.
Common sayings include: Dream of violets and advance in life. Wear a garland of violets to prevent dizziness. Violets are considered a good luck gift, but when violets bloom in autumn, epidemics will follow within the year.
Flower of Meaning
Are you sure! you know the meaning of flowers in your floral arrangement?
What do you feel when someone gives you flowers? Will your reaction vary based on what kind of flower you received? Is color also a determining factor of what the real implication is? We normally associate what we feel based on flowers. For us, a rose may express a strong feeling of passion, a carnation could tell someone how thankful he is for being your friend or a yellow tulip may indicate that someone is hopelessly in love.
Do flowers have a specific meaning? It all started because they have wonderful colors and because people use them as gestures and symbols for communicating with their loved ones. Whenever there is a special event, to express sympathy, to show how much love you have for someone, or simply by just telling that you are there; all these acts and emotions can be well represented by flowers. Traditional meanings may be provided for each and every flower that we have in the world but how will you know if that is the real message that the person wants to let you know?
There are so many flower meanings and we could even give a special meaning of our own but what matters most is the effort and compassion that is enveloped in each flower that you give. The real meaning will still be up to the person giving it and the person receiving the gift. So be sure that when you give a flower, communicate the right words that you want to say!
Well... most of the people will say "No". Knowing the message your flowers convey is equally important as giving flowers as a gift to your loved ones. Every flower has a different significance through its origine, appearance, looks and colors. At FlowerMeaning.org, we are providing a comprehensive information about flowers and their meanings. Brows through each flower meaning and flower color meanings.
So next time when you send flowers to some one, it should express your hearts feeling.
Meaning of Flowers
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