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Floral Fail?

Just a Second

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Someone that passed received flowers and was told they were symbolic. The gifter is kind of known to be at odds with the family so I was prompted to look up the meaning of the flowers in the display.

Acanthus mollis: artifice
Eryngium: independence
White Roses: I am worthy of you
Campanula: gratitude
Rosemary: remembrance
Lavender: distrust

That’s a lot of mixed signals if you ask me!

Sources:


 

Sherloque

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I'm very skeptical of the claims that they were locally sourced. None of them are is season right now, as far as I know.
The acanthus mollis does seem very appropriate, though, given the sender.
 
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I'm very skeptical of the claims that they were locally sourced. None of them are is season right now, as far as I know.
The acanthus mollis does seem very appropriate, though, given the sender.
Acanthus Mollis, which are supposed to signal artifice, in the old language of flowers, are very odd looking, and strange to use in a floral wreath. They are more commonly used as a foundation plant, at least in the Western United States. They are fairly hardy in tough situations--maybe a tungsten plant, in fact.

Here's a description from Wikipedia.

Acanthus mollis is a leafy, clump-forming perennial herb with tuberous roots. It has a basal rosette of dark glossy green, lobed or divided, glabrous leaves 50 cm (20 in) long and 30 cm (12 in) wide on a petiole 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long. The flowers are borne on an erect spike up to 200 cm (79 in) tall emerging from the leaf rosette. The sepals are purplish and function as the upper and lower lips of the petals, the upper lip about 4 cm (1.6 in) long and the lower lip 3 cm (1.2 in) long. The petals are about 4–4.5 cm (1.6–1.8 in) long and form a tube with a ring of hairs where the stamens are attached. Flowering occurs in summer and the fruit is a sharply-pointed capsule about 2 cm (0.79 in) long containing one or two brown seeds about 14 mm (0.55 in) long and 8 mm (0.31 in) wide.[4][5]
 
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Eryngium are as spiked as all get out. They're a terrific plant if you are making a sculptural arrangement that sits on a table or sideboard, but not a safe plant for a wreath, or when trying to communicate unity and warm feelings. Further, in a wreath, the concept of 'independence' is just bizarre.

There are many books that cover the language of flowers, and they can offer guidance to a budding floral arranger. The thing is, when it comes to a wreath, or a bouquet, it's important to avoid silly symbolism, and instead try to achieve harmony in the plant matter used.
 

Notagirl

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I would also add that, when being used in a funeral setting with other wreaths present, it would have been a good idea to color coordinate so as not to stick out like a sore thumb. The other wreaths had similar color schemes, but this one - while lovely shades of purple - clashed with the rest.
 
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1800FlowersDog.jpg

Here are some floral designs that could rapidly achieve fail status.
 
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stone-oak-flowers-and-more-birthday-dogable.jpg


Imagine the animals you can make out of flowers from the supermarket, or from Trader Joe's flower selection. Will they be cute, or will they be massive floral fails? While searching these, I saw some pretty strange arrangements that would be NSFW, so I'm uncertain as to whether to post them.

The thing about floral arrangements for memorial wreaths, though, is blending in and staying classy. The wreath talked about above missed the classy memo. I almost feel sorry for the florist who created it, but she must know there are certain standards of acceptable flowers in a wreath used in an historical setting.
 
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I'm just gonna throw this out there. How about if we have an informal contest to select flowers from the language of flowers books to design a wreath for the front door, of, say, a Montecito Mansion. What flowers would you select to send a message, and what would be a good message to send?

Here's a good guide for meanings, but if you have another guide you want to use, let us all know so we can compare meanings if, as is likely, different guides from different eras provide different meanings. I think we should avoid any really dangerous or poisonous plants, like castor bean, and oleander, just for safety.

 
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A wreath for the kitchen door of a mansion.

So, I’m going to start with African Marigolds, which I enjoy in a garden. In the language of flowers, though, they’re a little more loaded. I mean no insult to Dia de los Muertos, when chains of Marigolds adorn family remembrance altars. Marigolds have a rich and nuanced meaning there.

However, in old language of flowers they symbolize vulgar minds. Heck, maybe people are just plant snobs. Nevertheless, I think I’d use these liberally for a kitchen door wreath.
 

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Slightly off-topic, when I was a teenager and totally clueless I was ordering flowers for a cousin who'd just had a baby. I thought red and white roses would be nice, but the lovely camp florist flung his hands up in shock and told me never in a hospital, it means blood on the sheets.

Has anyone else heard of that?
 
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I'd never heard that, but it's an ugly thought. You were lucky to have a florist who cared about the impression you'd make, so you weren't sending a floral fail. When it comes to wreaths, I wonder if there are other bits of florist folk-wisdom, separate from language of flowers? The florist who made the above wreath sent to the memorial service had their own interesting ideas about flowers.

On the other hand, your cousin would have liked whatever you sent, because it was a nice thing to celebrate a baby.
 

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