Flower People

Tulipe (Les fleurs animées)

In the Winter 2011 newsletter of United Plant Savers there is a short article about finding good herbals online. I looked into illustratedgarden.org, an archive of old herbals and rare books. It houses 131 volumes and most are from the 18th and 19th centuries and have beautiful color illustrations. You can order botanical prints as well. Many of the books are written in French, Latin, and Italian but a few are in English. I looked at Les fleurs animées by J.-J. Grandville, 1847. There are a dozen or so color illustrations of animated flowers such as the Tulip queen (right) that are so charming and quite thought provoking. It reminded me of a book I used to always look at as a child called How does your garden grow? by Mary Hilliard Jackson, 1973.

Pototea of the
Pitcher Plant Family
(How does your garden grow?)

The book goes through what resembles common garden plants but plays on the names and appearances. For example, a "Pototea" of the "pitcher plant family" that "comes to full perfection in the late afternoon. Growth is short and stout." As a little girl I remember not being sure if these were real flowers or not, and hoping to one day find one growing somewhere. Of course all these instances of botanical personification remind me of Alice in Wonderland, especially the garden of live flowers scene, in which the various flowers try to figure out what genus and species Alice is.

It led me to think about which flowers I am like. In the secret Victorian Language of Flowers meanings assigned to flowers throughout history were used to communicate secret messages, called floriography. People would sometimes create bouquets that served as their personal emblems - consisting of the flowers that symbolized his/her characteristics most closely. In my bouquet I would have lily-of-the-valley and lavender which are the herbs of Gemini, a crown imperial for majesty, dragon lily for inner strength, heather for solitude (I need my alone time!) jasmine for grace & modesty, larkspur for my fickle nature, magnolia for love of nature, and a snowdrop for my hopeful outlook. Which herbs and flowers would be in your bouquet?