Color and Meaning in a Garden

As an avid community gardener, I don’t usually give too much thought to what perennials are my favorites. My job on the garden crew is to nurture the choice of plants of our garden planner. Since I work in a memorial garden, definite rules apply about what to include and what is considered inappropriate.

A major design principle in a memorial garden is use of color. Yellows and reds are considered too passionate and showy. Instead, the palette includes cool purples and blues, mauves and pinks which tend toward the blue, as well as pristine whites.

Such links between plants and the emotions are nothing new. One of the most famous lists of flowers and their significance occurs in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” when the doomed heroine Ophelia gifts the courtiers with freshly picked blossoms, in the process reciting the poignant emotional significance of each of them. In Victorian times, especially, people were obsessed with the “meaning” of different plants and flowers.

To this day, roses are seen as classic symbols of romantic love. Pink varieties supposedly convey admiration and appreciation. Red expresses passion or congratulations at achievement. White conveys innocence and humble grace. Yellow roses can express “welcome home” or friendship, but beware—also can symbolize jealousy.

Even “ordinary” garden plants have assigned meanings, such as daisies (innocence and loyalty) and irises (faith, courage). A whole emotional lexicon has sprung up around carnations. Pink, the official flower of Mother’s Day, tells the recipient, “I will never forget you”, while red says, “my heart aches for you”. White symbolizes pure affection. Yellow and striped carnations can mean disappointment or rejection. Chrysanthemums express friendship, except yellow which again has a negative connotation.

If I had to assign personal “meanings” my Top 10 floral garden favorites, they would be: 1) Iris—elegance. 2) Daffodils—gregarious, unpretentious. 3) Prairie Asters—persistence (the latest bloomers in my garden). 5) Astilbes—gracefulness. 6) Coneflowers and Brown-eyed Susans—joyous simplicity. 7) Helibores—hopeful (blooming even in the snow). 8) Day lilies—exuberance. 9) Foxglove—air of mystery (partly for their over-the-top snapdragon-like flower stalks and partly for popping up all over the garden season after season). 10) Lupine—frustrating (I have a dickens of a time growing them, but even their bloomed out seed pods are fascinating).

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we have a perfect chance to tell the gardener in our lives how we feel. While cut flowers can be wonderful for doing that, so can gifts of perennials that in just a matter of months can go out there in the beds, hopefully to flower for years to come.