The Language of Flowers

I’m getting ready for an upcoming presentation I’ll be giving called The Language of Flowers, and I am having SO much fun preparing for this one!

I’ve been diving into the history and meaning behind flowers and the beautiful old tradition of using them to communicate things we sometimes have trouble putting into words.

Love, friendship, gratitude, remembrance, hope… even secret messages and affection.

I keep going down all kinds of little rabbit holes as I’ve been photographing the flowers themselves. The more time I spend really looking at each one through my camera, the more I feel like they have their own personalities. Some are bold and showy, some are delicate and shy. Some feel romantic, sexy or a little wild. Some seem to have a quiet strength about them.

I find myself getting to know them almost like little characters.

Why do certain flowers make us happy? Why does one flower remind us instantly of a particular person or time in our lives? Why does receiving flowers feel so special?

I’m realizing this is about so much more than learning what different flowers symbolize in the traditional sense. It’s about our own personal connections and reactions. Sometimes we love a certain flower because of a particular memory, and sometimes it’s simply a gut reaction to its beauty or unique personality. Kind of like how we form our own relationships in the “people world.”

I’m hoping everyone who joins me will leave looking at flowers a little differently, with a little more insight into the flowers they choose to give to the people they love.

Sometimes a flower says more than words can.