Floriography - or what flowers mean
In Victorian times there were a lot more stiff upper-lips than there are today. All that British reserve and not a lot of expression of emotions - think of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice for an idea (though he was, of course, doing his bit in Georgian times... we digress). It just wasn't the done thing to start talking to people about your feelings for them. It was thus a little bit tricky to intimate to someone that you fancied them.
One way around this societal difficulty was through the invention of Floriography - the language of flowers. In this neat system each flower had a specific meaning or meanings from the straight-forward Red Rose meaning "I love you" to the more prosaic Houseleek meaning "Domestic Economy".
Although Floriography is not as popular as it once was - it is after all much easier to update your status on Facebook or send a text these days than send a tailored message using flowers - we think it's just about time that sending the right flower to the right person at the right time came back into fashion.
So without further ado we present a handy short guide to the meanings of some flowers (and some links to where you can get them!):