The most common Valentine's Day gift, according to associatedcontent.com, is roses. In 2007, about 217 million roses were sold, according to aboutflowers.com, and delivered to all different parts of the country. These flowering red shrubs come in over 100 different species, stemming up to 5 meters when grown in the wild. Serving as tokens of love and appreciation, roses are undeniably a signature trademark of Valentine's Day. However, roses are, well - standard. When was the last time you saw someone receiving yellow carnations on Valentine's Day? Or perhaps even purple forget-me-nots? There is a range of other flower options that are both equally as beautiful, and have all different sorts of meanings.
"In Victorian times, certain flowers had specific meanings because the flower selection was limited," according to about.com. "People used more symbols and gestures to communicate than words."
With thousands of different species of flowers, there are obviously a wide variety of options for your Valentine's Day sweetheart. An appealing suggestion is a bouquet of tulips, which has a lot of different meanings associated with love. A red tulip asks the receiver for their trust and is a declaration of love, a yellow tulip infers hopeless love and a variegated tulip tells the receiver that they have beautiful eyes, according to about.com.
Another suggestion is the carnation, which also comes in a variety of colors, all of which have different meanings as well, according to about.com. Pink carnations stand for gratitude, red for flashiness, striped for refusal, white for remembrance and yellow for cheer. Chrysanthemums also come in a plethora of colors, bronze for excitement, white for truth, red for sharing and yellow meaning you have a secret admirer, according to the Web site.
However, on Valentine's Day most flower seekers are looking for a specific message to send through their bouquets.
If roses are still what you desire, you can still mix things up by changing the color as well. Pink roses infer perfect happiness, or asking your partner to believe you, tan colored roses remembrance, white roses signify innocence and purity, or telling your partner that you are worthy of them and thornless roses symbolize love at first sight. Make sure to stay away from yellow roses, which symbolize a decrease in love or jealousy, according to about.com.
If you're more about just sticking with a specific color family, then there are some basics for general color as well. Purple flowers represent dignity, pride and success, according to teleflora.com. Pink flowers symbolize grace, gentility and happiness while orange flowers indicate energy, enthusiasm and warmth.
Above all, make sure that your gift is sent with love, no matter what type of flower you ultimately give. About.com suggests not only knowing the meaning of the flowers you are sending, but also aknowledging what you want the recipient to get out of your loving gesture.
"Researching the meanings that folks have given to specific flowers has revealed that many flowers have many meanings," according to about.com. "So, in reality, the meaning of a flower that you give as a gift is dependent on how special a flower is to your spouse and whatever you want that flower to represent. Just be sure that you communicate that message to your loved one."
Contact Emily Abbate at
Emily.Abbate@UConn.edu.
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