meaning of flower - hydrangea?
Lisa
Motoni Katayama wrote:
>
> Hi - a while back there were some postings on the meanings of
> various flowers, and I've been looking for the meaning of the flower
> hydrangea, but I haven't been able to find it...I was wondering if
> anyone knows its meaning?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Motoni Katayama
> <kata...@students.uiuc.edu>
Check out:
br...@home.com
Motoni Katayama wrote:
>
> Hi - a while back there were some postings on the meanings of
> various flowers, and I've been looking for the meaning of the flower
> hydrangea, but I haven't been able to find it...I was wondering if
> anyone knows its meaning?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Motoni Katayama
> <kata...@students.uiuc.edu>
Not a "pretty" meaning.
Boaster, Braggart, Heartlessness, Coldness
ZIMBRA1
This gets me wondering: WHO sets the meanings of flowers? Fairy tales, old
religions, magicians?? The 'meanings' seem pretty silly to me, and are just
plain supersticious. Besides, if we, as Brides, have to search to find the
'meanings', how on earth would any of our guests know? And what effect would
it have on our marriages? Wouldn't want to upset the Gods of the Flowers..!
Wende Vyborney
Some sources of meanings:
--Ancient beliefs about what plants had what medicinal effects. Some of
these beliefs are even accurate.
--Folklore based on other characteristics of the plant. If a plant grows
in poor soil and little sun, it's likely to pick up a meaning of
"tenacity."
--Religious symbolism that's hard to trace back accurately. You'll find
lots of plants used symbolically in medieval paintings of the Virgin
Mary; in many cases, we know what the plant was supposed to mean, but
not why. Same for animals.
--Pure arbitrariness. When the "language of flowers" was popular in the
19th century, people made up meanings to account for flowers that didn't
already have them. As new plants have been developed, this process has
continued.
I was wondering the same thing as you -- why the "meaning" of flowers
suddenly becomes important on the wedding day, when the "meaning" of all
prior bouquets was simply that the sender cared enough to send flowers.
(I can see wanting to use flowers that hearken back to the first bouquet
the groom sent, the flowers in the garden where he proposed, and other
personal events.) My bouquet will be "whatever Lund's has that morning,"
and what it means is "hey, I've got some pretty flowers."
Wende
Motoni Katayama
In article <199807061352...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
zim...@aol.com (ZIMBRA1) wrote:
> This gets me wondering: WHO sets the meanings of flowers? Fairy tales, old
> religions, magicians?? The 'meanings' seem pretty silly to me, and are just
> plain supersticious. Besides, if we, as Brides, have to search to find the
> 'meanings', how on earth would any of our guests know? And what effect would
> it have on our marriages? Wouldn't want to upset the Gods of the Flowers..!
Well, as the original poster, I thought I needed to respond. I was just
curious about the meaning of the flower (in this case, hydrangea), mainly
because a wedding invitations design I'm interested in has this flower all
over, and I just wanted to know what is its meaning, if it has any.
I'm not sure about the U.S., but in Japan, white chrysanthemums (mums) are
used almost exclusively for funerals. In some other Asian cultures, some
consult "feng shui" experts before building houses or companies in hopes
that moving to the new location would ensure peaceful living and/or
prosperity. I'm just saying that what's silly or superstitious to one,
it might not be so silly to another.
In my case, I was just curious about the meaning of a particular flower -
what's so silly about that? I certainly try not to judge others' motives
or intentions based on their questions in this newsgroup, and I don't
appreciate being judged either.
Motoni Katayama
<kata...@students.uiuc.edu>
jcs
kata...@students.uiuc.edu (Motoni Katayama) wrote:
I think many posters, myself included would have to be duped by the floral
or wedding industry into thinking that some flowers have "meaning" when it
is really just made up by the World Florist Society (if such an
organization exists) to sell more flowers, kind of like the way Hallmark
keeps coming up with more holidays for which to sell greeting cards.
Jenna
LeeEtta66
about two years before it died. I don't exactly have a green thumb so I looked
up what I was supposed to be doing to let it thrive. I was suprised to find I
should have had it in the yard vs. a flower pot.
Lee Etta
Evelyn Baker
a pretty old tradition. Many flowers and plants and flowers have symbolic meanings
derived from legend and history. For example Narcissus means vanity and self love.
Narcissus is the name of a person in greek myth who was so vain he fell in love with
his own reflection in a pool of water. He was then turned into the flower.
Red roses symbolize passion. As a florist I try to encourage men to buy other
flowers or even colours of roses at Valentine's Day but they all return to the red
rose!
White flowers in many cultures represent death. I do many Chinese weddings and most
ask not have any white flowers.
Most of the flower meanings we see now are from the Victorian Language of Flowers.
This was used as a way of communicating through bouquets rather than speech. There
were many books on the subject, some even contradicting each other. Some books went
into the grammar of flowers. An upside down flower may have the opposite meaning. If
two people didn't have the same dictionary they may even misinterpret what was being
said to them!
Admittedly Hallmark and Florist Associations have marketed holidays to our advantage
but in this case it isn't so. I'd bet that most florists don't know the meanings
attached to even half of the flowers they carry.
Also there is another meaning to hydrangea, "Thanks for your understanding."
Evelyn Baker
Apropos Floral Designs Inc.
Toronto, Canada (416) 285-6085
http://www.aproposflowers.com