Certain Valentine’s Day traditions have been around for centuries, and giving flowers is no new tradition. Whether it be bouquets or a single bloom, red roses are the most picked choice for gifting. As of 2018, more than 250 million roses are gifted.
Roses weren’t always the number one, though. Back in the 19th century, bouquets of different flower types would be given to one on the day of love. It’s not popular anymore, but in that time period, people were fond of the language of flowers. Each flower (and color!) had different meanings to them. For example, a bouquet of white and yellow flowers would be picked to give to a friend because the colors symbolized purity and simplicity and friendship respectively.
Red flowers, and roses specifically, had a strong meaning of love and passion. Part of this stems from the belief that red roses were a favorite of the goddess Venus, the Roman version of the Greeks’ Aphrodite. The use of other flowers has diminished, but it never hurts to dive into the art of floriography and give the one you love a bouquet that says more than the simple rose.
For more information on the language of flowers, visit this site that goes into details on the color meanings and type meanings.
