In the 1600's, a language of flowers developed in Constantinople and in the poetry of Persia.
Charles II introduced the Persian poetry to Europe, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu brought the flower language from Turkey to England in 1716.
It spread to France and became a handbook of 800 floral messages known as the Book Le Language des Fleurs.
Lovers exchanged messages as they gave each other selected flowers or bouquets. A full red rose meant beauty. Red and white mean unity.
Crocus said "abuse not", while a white rosebud warns that one is too young for love.
Yellow roses were for jealousy, yellow iris for passion, filbert for reconciliation and ivy for marriage.
- Valentine's Day Love Traditions
Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ...
a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dream.
- Barbara Winkler
Life is the flower for which love is the honey.
- Victor Hugo
I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay