This week's word is Floriography
(Or as the Victorians called it, The Language of Flowers).
And...they took the color and deliverance of flowers very seriously. (In the modern world, you can think of their use of flowers similar to the way we use emojis).
Flower language was popularized in France about 1810–1850, whereas in Britain it became popular during the Victorian era (1820–1880), and then traveled to the United States (1830–1850).
* If flowers were given to a recipient upside down, it meant that they were meant to mean the opposite of what that arrangement typically symbolized.
* If flowers were given to someone using the right hand, they were used to answer “yes” to a question. On the contrary, if they were given using the left hand, they were used to answer with “no.”
* If someone received an arrangement of lupines, hollyhocks, white heather and ragged robin, they were being wished good luck.
* If someone received an arrangement of delphiniums, hydrangeas, oleander, basil and birdsfoot, it was meant to deliver a more negative message, such as you’re heartless and beware!
* If someone was given hyacinths, it could symbolize a few things, such as play, forgive me, or games.
In addition to the actual flowers, the ribbons added to the arrangement also held significance – specifically, if the ribbon was tied to the left, the flower symbolism had to do with the giver. However, if it was tied to the right, the message was about the giver.
When I was writing DECADENT DECEPTIONS, I knew I wanted to use flowers in the story, specifically, a rose. But first I had to find out what each color of the roses meant. In relation to the above about secret messages, I discovered roses had a language all their own.
Here's how Victorians interpreted the colors of roses (this still remains true today).
Yellow Rose: Joy, Protection against envious lovers, Mature love
White Rose: Purity, Sanctity, Secret admirer, Mysticism
Red Rose: Sacrifice, Immortal love, Health, Memorial, Passion
Pink Rose: First love, Innocence, Healing
Burgundy Rose: deep passion, readiness for a commitment and unconscious beauty
Blue rose: mystery, the impossible, or the unattainable.
Lavender rose: love and enchantment at first sight, regal majesty and splendor, wonder & impossibility.
The black rose is the one I decided to include in Decadent Deceptions. In the story, there's a serial killer and his calling card is a black rose. Either before he strikes or after he kills, he leaves a black rose in a conspicuous spot.
A black rose is a mysterious bloom that conveys several meanings, so don't always think of it as morbid. While the color black has often been synonymous with death and mourning, it's usually used at funerals. But black roses do have a more positive meaning as well. They can stand for the beginning of new things and major change. Black roses can inspire confidence by signaling the birth of a new era and can bring hope and courage.
About Decadent Deceptions (Erotic Romance/Suspense)
* RWA MOLLY CONTEST FINALIST
Olivia Breedlove’s father couldn’t control
her while he was alive, but continues to try even after his death. Thaddeus’
Will stipulates that in order to inherit her portion of his estate, Olivia must
marry a respectable man of means within six months of his death. There’s one
caveat, however – under no circumstances can that man be someone like Morgan Gatewood.
It’s been ten years since Thaddeus banished
Morgan, a notorious ladies’ man, for kissing a much younger Olivia in the
garden during a family function. But now that Thaddeus is gone, Morgan’s
back─and Olivia still wants him. She also wants her inheritance. A bit ahead of
her time for 1850’s Savannah, Georgia, Olivia sets out to find a loophole to
get what she wants. Her scheme to make Morgan jealous by asking him to help her
locate her future husband─by escorting her to the local brothel so that she may
observe and evaluate men with a talent for pleasing women─ doesn’t go as
planned.
Morgan still has ravenous feelings for
Olivia, but keeps them to himself as he doesn’t want to interfere with her
inheritance. The stakes are raised with a killer on the loose murdering
prostitutes in the brothel, and it appears that Olivia is next on the killer’s
list.
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