BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
Flowers say something. Or at least the Victorians thought so. Do you consider the Language of Flowers when giving them?
If not then what is your policy on lilies?
If not then what is your policy on lilies?
The Language of Flowers
- Thread starter BvBPL
- Start date
For me, the language of flowers is this: Anyone giving me real flowers is not my friend, because I'm allergic to them.
But for people who are not allergic and like them... whatever. It seems a bit silly to me, but then I'm not sentimental about such things.
But for people who are not allergic and like them... whatever. It seems a bit silly to me, but then I'm not sentimental about such things.
BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
I'm surprised, Valka. I thought this would be right up your alley if not for allergies.
I've never made a secret of where my sentimental feelings are. It's a bit pointless to care about the language of flowers when there are some circumstances in which they can kill a person.
I'm not saying I hate flowers. They're pretty to look at, and a necessary part of the ecosystem. But I can only appreciate them at a distance, and there are certain months of the year when I don't dare go outside, or at least too close to a flower bed, trees, or hedges.
The back yard of the house I used to live in had lots of flowers in the spring. We had several kinds of fruit trees, and two kinds of lilac hedges. There were maybe 4-5 days of the whole year when all of them were in bloom at the same time. It was very beautiful to look at, but I couldn't go out among them. It was too hard to breathe, so I had to appreciate them through the window.
But flowers are a staple subject of many kinds of art and craftwork. I used to do a lot of projects involving roses and tulips. I never considered any particular meaning behind the colors. I just went with the colors I liked.
BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
I just thought the Language of Flowers would be the kind of anachronism that an SCA player would dig. Didn't know previously about your allergy.
I sort of have the same thing about bees. They are wicked cool, but since I've become allergic, I'm real wary of them.
I sort of have the same thing about bees. They are wicked cool, but since I've become allergic, I'm real wary of them.
Think of it this way:
Flowers are to some people what cats are to you, and vise versa.
Personally I have long opposed all forms of gift giving as I view them as a means of emotional bribery to the weak willed.
People love their emotions and when another person uses bribes of any sort to provoke positive emotions, we usually love it. 
Narz
keeping it real
The ROI on flowers seems low, you pay for them & within a few days they're dead. I'd rather buy a chick a houseplant. Then you can gauge her nurturing skills by how well she takes care of it.
Borachio
Way past lunacy
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
- Messages
- 26,698
Yeah, sure. Houseplants.
But while a bunch of flowers will die fairly quickly (within a week, or two at most), a houseplant can linger on in a moribund state for literally years.
I'm not sure the quicker death isn't preferable.
Plants are like birds, imo. Neither deserves a life in a cage. Even if life in the great outdoors can be hazardous.
As for the language of flowers, as far as I remember, lilies are for funerals.
And rosemary for remembrance. Or is it forgetfulness? My powers of recall are not what they were.
But while a bunch of flowers will die fairly quickly (within a week, or two at most), a houseplant can linger on in a moribund state for literally years.
I'm not sure the quicker death isn't preferable.
Plants are like birds, imo. Neither deserves a life in a cage. Even if life in the great outdoors can be hazardous.
As for the language of flowers, as far as I remember, lilies are for funerals.
And rosemary for remembrance. Or is it forgetfulness? My powers of recall are not what they were.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I don't know much about flowers other than roses are red, violets are blue, and forgetmenots are blue too (how could you forget them?)
Narz, I don't think newly born chickens would be able to look after a houseplant.
Narz, I don't think newly born chickens would be able to look after a houseplant.
Language is a tool for communicating things to other people. Flowers and the language of those are both as much a tool for communicating.
For some reason I think I'd bet (not my head though) that Valka would appreciate the care and the sense of humor if someone gave her a picture of a flower instead of a real one.
Also, if you walk a girl to a flowerbed or a hedge and tell her, pointing at the flowers, "These are for you. But shall we leave them growing where they do?" - the odds are good it will do the trick even better than if you came to her with a trivial wisp. At least it worked well with student girls when I was a student myself...
For some reason I think I'd bet (not my head though) that Valka would appreciate the care and the sense of humor if someone gave her a picture of a flower instead of a real one.
Also, if you walk a girl to a flowerbed or a hedge and tell her, pointing at the flowers, "These are for you. But shall we leave them growing where they do?" - the odds are good it will do the trick even better than if you came to her with a trivial wisp. At least it worked well with student girls when I was a student myself...
Ah, okay. I never thought of that angle since other than dancing, I was never into the "courtly love" thing. Most of what I did in the SCA had to do with RL board member stuff. At one time I wore four hats in the Shire - Exchequer (treasurer), Chronicler (secretary/newsletter publisher), part-time constable (managing the troll booth at local events), and Chatelaine (in charge of costume/nef inventory and rental, and liaison with real-world media and advertising). And when that wasn't going on, our household started specializing in feast planning.
Most of the other women would be interested in flower-language, though.
Hm. Flowers in a vase last a very short time. Cats are a 15-20-year commitment.
Unless she has a cat. We had non-flowering houseplants for awhile... until my Gussy literally dug up the rubber tree. Nowadays I don't bother with any houseplants. I don't want to risk my cats getting into them, not to mention that I'd probably forget to water them.
Roses can be a wide variety of colors. We had magenta roses in the front yard for awhile.
Yep.
Sorry for the double post... but rather than tack this on to my previous one, I think it deserved a separate mention that since my last post, someone gave me an early Christmas present...
An adult coloring book of flower-themed pictures!
So it looks like I'm going to be doing some coloring this winter.
It's definitely a cool coincidence - I showed her this thread and our posts, and she got a kick out of it.
Adult coloring books are the "in" thing this year, and after 40 years, it's socially acceptable to dig out my old DoodleArt pictures and finish them.
Adult coloring books are the "in" thing this year, and after 40 years, it's socially acceptable to dig out my old DoodleArt pictures and finish them.
Zkribbler
Deity
I would never, ever send lilies. The person receiving them might considerate it to be a death threat.
I am careful about sending red roses or tulips because they might be misconstrued t.o be saying more than I mean. Pity, because I love red roses.
I do love flowers.
It's very difficult to have them at my house because they need sunlight to grow, and I have too much shade. The only sun is at the top of the seawall. Trouble is, about four months a year, the wind whips in off the sea so ferociously, it scythes down any unprotected plant smaller than a tree.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I have noticed the "colouring books for adults" trend and a lot of them seem to be flower-centric. From what I've seen and I haven't seen much.
I almost bought one of those colouring books for meditative purposes, but the one I was looking at seemed to be just pleasing to the eye designs, and not specifically flowers.
I almost bought one of those colouring books for meditative purposes, but the one I was looking at seemed to be just pleasing to the eye designs, and not specifically flowers.
The most common ones are either flowers, animals, or mandalas. A number of them have paisley designs as well, but I don't care for those. They keep reminding me of the icky little things I saw in the microscope in my Grade 6 science classes.
I just googled "Mary Maxim adult coloring books" and one of the hits came up for Amazon.ca. I found a coloring book for Game of Thrones, and some other stuff I'm not going to post here because I'm honestly not sure if it's within forum rules. So it's not all flower garden kind of stuff.
You can also get DoodleArts - sold in tubes, as they were 40 years ago, with the same inferior kind of felt pens, for 3 times the price (they're over $20 now). If you want to try DoodleArts, you'll need to invest in some good-quality pens (not pencil crayons), and those aren't cheap. The ones I used to use were Berol Canadiana, which to my knowledge are not made anymore. At least I haven't seen any for at least 30 years.
The coloring books are a lot cheaper. Just now I noticed a few I wouldn't mind having, such as this one. The nice thing about symmetrical designs is that once you decide what one half of it's going to look like, the other half takes care of itself.
And here's one that looks interesting: Splendid Cities
Any half-decent craft store will carry coloring books these days, plus an assortment of pens, pencils, crayons, and water color paints.
