Flower traditions
Flowers are more than plants. These are 78 customs, crafts and institutions built around them: how they are arranged, strung, laid on the ground, offered, given, viewed, traded and gardened.
Presented by ClearTrust Free for gardeners, florists, travellers and the curious.
Arranging and floral design
Flowers composed in a vase, a bowl or the hand, and the schools that teach it.
🇯🇵IkebanaThe Japanese art of arranging flowers, branches and leaves, where line and empty space matter as much as the blooms.
🇯🇵Ikenobo, the oldest ikebana schoolThe oldest school of ikebana, based at the Rokkakudo temple in Kyoto and led by one family of priests for centuries.🇨🇳 🇹🇼Chinese flower arrangingA scholar's art in China for over a thousand years: a few seasonal stems in a fine vase, each with its own meaning.
🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇬🇧The hand-tied bouquetA bouquet built in the hand with the stems laid in a spiral, then tied once so it holds its shape in or out of a vase.🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇩🇪The bridal bouquetThe flowers a bride carries, from a small round posy to a long cascade, with customs of myrtle, orange blossom and the toss.
🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇺🇸Tussie-mussie and nosegayA small, tight posy of scented flowers and herbs, once carried against bad smells and later used to send messages.
🇳🇱 🇧🇪The Dutch still-life arrangementLavish, tumbling vase arrangements modelled on the flower paintings of the seventeenth-century Netherlands.
🇬🇧 🇯🇵 🇺🇸Pressed flowersFlowers and leaves dried flat under weight, then arranged into pictures, cards and keepsakes that last for years.
🇯🇵Ikenobo, the oldest ikebana schoolThe oldest school of ikebana, based at the Rokkakudo temple in Kyoto and led by one family of priests for centuries.🇨🇳 🇹🇼Chinese flower arrangingA scholar's art in China for over a thousand years: a few seasonal stems in a fine vase, each with its own meaning.🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇬🇧The hand-tied bouquetA bouquet built in the hand with the stems laid in a spiral, then tied once so it holds its shape in or out of a vase.🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇩🇪The bridal bouquetThe flowers a bride carries, from a small round posy to a long cascade, with customs of myrtle, orange blossom and the toss.🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇺🇸Tussie-mussie and nosegayA small, tight posy of scented flowers and herbs, once carried against bad smells and later used to send messages.🇳🇱 🇧🇪The Dutch still-life arrangementLavish, tumbling vase arrangements modelled on the flower paintings of the seventeenth-century Netherlands.🇬🇧 🇯🇵 🇺🇸Pressed flowersFlowers and leaves dried flat under weight, then arranged into pictures, cards and keepsakes that last for years.Garlands, wreaths and flowers that are worn
Flowers strung, woven and bound, for the neck, the hair, the door and the head.
🇮🇳 🇳🇵 🇧🇩 🇱🇰The Indian flower garlandStrings of marigold, jasmine and rose, called mala or haar, placed on gods, guests, brides, grooms and the dead.
🇮🇳 🇵🇰 🇧🇩 🇱🇰Gajra, flowers in the hairA string of jasmine buds worn around a bun or along a plait by women across South Asia, bought fresh each day.
🇹🇭Phuang malaiThe Thai flower garland: jasmine buds, roses and crown flowers threaded into fine patterns as offerings and gifts of respect.
🇺🇸 🇵🇫 🇨🇰 🇼🇸LeiThe garland of Hawaii and wider Polynesia, given with affection for greetings, farewells, graduations and every celebration.
🇺🇦 🇵🇱 🇸🇪 🇱🇻Vinok and midsummer crownsWreaths of fresh flowers and herbs worn on the head in Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic lands and Sweden, above all at midsummer.
🇩🇪 🇦🇹 🇨🇭 🇬🇧The Advent and Christmas wreathA ring of evergreen branches: with four candles for the Sundays of Advent, or hung on the front door through Christmas.
🇬🇷 🇮🇹The laurel and olive wreathThe leafy crowns of ancient Greece and Rome, given to victors and poets, and still worn by Italian graduates.
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇨🇦Boutonnière and corsageA single flower in the lapel buttonhole, and a small spray pinned to a dress or tied to the wrist, for formal occasions.
🇳🇵 🇮🇳Marigold garlands at TiharFor five days each autumn Nepal strings marigolds and globe amaranth over doors, around dogs and cows, and onto brothers.
🇮🇳 🇳🇵Toran, the door garlandA string of mango leaves and marigolds hung across the top of an Indian doorway to welcome guests, gods and good fortune.
🇵🇭Sampaguita garlandsThin strings of white jasmine buds sold outside Philippine churches, hung on holy images and given to guests and graduates.Carpets, floats and big displays
Petals laid on the ground, floats covered in flowers, and whole streets in bloom.
🇮🇳PookalamThe round flower carpet laid at the doorstep in Kerala for the ten days of Onam, growing by a ring each day.🇮🇹InfiorataItalian street carpets of petals laid for the feast of Corpus Christi, with whole pictures drawn in flowers on the paving.🇧🇪The Brussels Flower CarpetEvery two years in August, volunteers cover the Grand-Place of Brussels with a patterned carpet of begonia flowers.
🇬🇹 🇪🇸 🇲🇽 🇭🇳Alfombras, the procession carpetsStreet carpets of dyed sawdust, flowers and pine needles made for Holy Week and Corpus Christi, then walked over by the procession.
🇳🇱 🇧🇪Bloemencorso, the Dutch flower paradesParades of giant floats covered entirely in dahlias or spring bulbs, built by village volunteers in the Netherlands.
🇺🇸Rose Parade floatsThe New Year's Day parade in Pasadena, California, where every visible surface of every float must be covered in plant material.
🇨🇴The silleteros of MedellínFlower growers from the hills above Medellín who carry huge arrangements on their backs in a parade each August.
🇮🇳BathukammaA cone of wild flowers stacked in rings on a plate, around which the women of Telangana sing and dance for nine days.
🇬🇧Well dressingA summer custom of the English Peak District: pictures made of petals pressed into wet clay and set up beside village wells.Offerings, weddings and farewells
Flowers given to gods, exchanged at weddings and laid for the dead.
🇮🇳 🇳🇵 🇱🇰 🇲🇺Flowers in Hindu worshipFresh flowers offered to the gods at home shrines and temples, with particular blooms for particular deities.
🇱🇰 🇹🇭 🇲🇲 🇰🇭Buddhist flower offeringsLotus, water lily, jasmine and frangipani laid before the Buddha's image as a reminder that all things fade.
🇮🇩Canang sariThe small palm-leaf tray of flowers set out every day in Bali, at shrines, doorways, crossroads and shop counters.
🇲🇽 🇬🇹 🇺🇸Cempasúchil and the Day of the Dead ofrendaOrange Mexican marigolds piled on home altars and graves, and laid in petal paths to guide the dead home in early November.
🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇵🇱 🇧🇪Chrysanthemums for the deadPots of chrysanthemums carried to family graves at the start of November across much of Catholic Europe.
🇹🇭 🇮🇳Loy Krathong and floating flower offeringsSmall rafts of banana leaf, flowers, incense and a candle set on the water on a full moon night in Thailand.
🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🇳🇿The remembrance poppyA red paper poppy worn each November in Britain and the Commonwealth in memory of those killed in war.
🇮🇳Phool Walon Ki SairDelhi's procession of the flower sellers, which carries floral fans to a Hindu temple and a flower sheet to a Sufi shrine.Giving and meaning
What a flower says, and the customs of giving one.
🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇺🇸 🇹🇷The language of flowersThe nineteenth-century European habit of giving each flower a meaning, so that a bouquet could carry a message.🇯🇵Hanakotoba, the Japanese language of flowersJapan's own set of flower meanings, a blend of old seasonal associations and the flower code that arrived from Europe.🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇦🇺Birth-month flowersA flower for each month of the year, given on birthdays in the same way as a birthstone.🇮🇳 🇿🇦 🇲🇽 🇦🇺National flowers and floral emblemsThe flowers that countries, states and cities adopt as symbols, by law, by royal badge or simply by long habit.
🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇴 🇪🇨Valentine's Day rosesThe custom of giving red roses on 14 February, and the worldwide rush of growing and flying that makes it possible.
🇺🇸 🇯🇵 🇰🇷 🇦🇺Mother's Day carnationsCarnations for mothers in May, a custom that began in the United States in 1908 and took different forms abroad.
🇮🇹 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 🇰🇿Women's Day mimosa and tulipsYellow mimosa in Italy and tulips across Russia and its neighbours, given to women on 8 March.🇷🇺 🇺🇦 🇫🇷 🇯🇵Odd numbers, even numbers and flowers not to giveThe unwritten rules of flower giving: how many stems, which colours and which flowers belong only to mourning.
🇫🇷 🇧🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸Lily of the valley on 1 MayThe French custom of giving a sprig of lily of the valley for luck on May Day, with related spring customs elsewhere.🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🇼🇸 🇹🇴Graduation leisGarlands of flowers hung around a graduate's neck in Hawaii and across the Pacific, often stacked up to the chin.
🇪🇸The Sant Jordi roseOn 23 April in Catalonia people exchange roses and books, and the streets of Barcelona fill with stalls selling both.Viewing and flower tours
Going to see flowers: blossom parties, bulb routes, garden visits and wildflower walks.
🇯🇵 🇰🇷 🇹🇼 🇺🇸Hanami, cherry blossom viewingThe Japanese custom of gathering under cherry trees in bloom to eat, drink and watch the petals fall, by day and by lantern light.
🇯🇵 🇨🇳 🇰🇷 🇹🇼Plum and wisteria viewingThe quieter flower seasons of East Asia: scented plum blossom in late winter and hanging wisteria in late spring.
🇳🇱The Dutch bulb fields and the BollenstreekIn April the sandy fields behind the Dutch dunes turn into stripes of tulips, hyacinths and daffodils that you can cycle past.
🇫🇷 🇯🇵 🇪🇸 🇭🇷Lavender routes in ProvenceSummer drives and walks through the purple lavender fields of upland Provence, timed for the weeks before the harvest.
🇺🇸 🇨🇱 🇲🇽 🇸🇦Superblooms and desert wildflower walksIn some years, after good rain, deserts in California, Chile and elsewhere flower all at once, and people travel to see it.
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇫🇷Garden visiting and open-garden schemesPrivate gardens opened to the public for a day or two a year, usually for charity, with tea and cake on the lawn.
🇮🇳Valley of Flowers and Kaas Plateau treksTwo monsoon flower walks in India: a high Himalayan valley in Uttarakhand and a rocky plateau in the Western Ghats.
🇿🇦 🇳🇦The Namaqualand flower routeA spring drive up South Africa's dry west coast, where winter rain turns bare ground orange and white with daisies.🇦🇺Western Australia wildflower trailsA six-month season that moves from the Pilbara to the south coast, with thousands of plants found nowhere else on Earth.
🇿🇦 🇦🇺 🇲🇽 🇦🇷Jacaranda season and flowering street treesWeeks when whole avenues turn violet under jacaranda trees, from Pretoria and Grafton to Mexico City and Buenos Aires.Markets, growers and the trade
How flowers are grown, auctioned, distilled and sold.
🇳🇱The Aalsmeer flower auction and the Dutch clockThe largest flower auction in the world, where prices fall on a clock until the first buyer presses a button.
🇳🇱 🇰🇪 🇨🇴 🇪🇨The global cut-flower tradeHow a rose cut on a farm near the equator reaches a vase on another continent within a few days.
🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇹🇭 🇯🇵Wholesale flower markets and dawn tradingThe city markets where florists buy before sunrise, from London and Paris to Bangkok, Tokyo and Kunming.🇮🇳Indian loose-flower mandisIndia's dawn flower markets, where marigolds, jasmine and roses are sold by weight for garlands, temples and weddings.
🇫🇷The perfume flowers of GrasseA hill town in the south of France that grows jasmine, rose and tuberose and turns them into the raw materials of perfume.
🇮🇳The attar of KannaujTraditional Indian perfume distilled from flowers into sandalwood oil in copper stills, in a town on the Ganges plain.
🇧🇬 🇹🇷 🇮🇷 🇲🇦Rose oil of Bulgaria and TurkeyDamask roses picked at dawn for a few weeks each year and distilled into one of the costliest oils in perfumery.
🇮🇷 🇮🇳 🇪🇸 🇬🇷The saffron harvestThree red threads plucked by hand from an autumn crocus, in Iran, Kashmir, Spain and a handful of other places.
🇳🇱 🇹🇷Tulip maniaThe winter of 1636 to 1637, when prices for rare tulip bulbs in the Dutch Republic soared and then collapsed.
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇳🇱Floristry, flower farming and slow flowersThe florist's craft, and the movement of small growers selling local flowers in season as an alternative to imports.
🇮🇳Temple-flower recyclingCollecting the tonnes of flowers offered in Indian temples each day and turning them into incense, compost and dye.Garden traditions
The great ways of making a garden, from the charbagh to the cottage border.
🇮🇷 🇦🇫 🇺🇿 🇮🇳The Persian paradise garden and the charbaghA walled garden divided into four by water channels, the pattern that shaped gardens from Spain to India.
🇮🇳 🇵🇰 🇦🇫Mughal gardensThe terraced water gardens and garden tombs built by the Mughal emperors across north India, Kashmir and Pakistan.
🇯🇵Japanese garden styles and flower restraintGardens of rock, moss, water and clipped green, where flowers are few and each one marks a moment in the year.
🇨🇳 🇹🇼 🇸🇬The Chinese scholar's gardenA private town garden of rocks, water, pavilions and a few plants, each chosen for what it means as much as how it looks.
🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇺🇸 🇦🇺The English landscape park and the cottage gardenTwo English traditions: sweeping parkland made to look natural, and small crowded plots of mixed flowers.
🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 🇦🇹The French formal gardenGardens of straight axes, clipped hedges and patterned beds, made to show order imposed on nature, as at Versailles.
🇪🇸 🇲🇦 🇵🇹Courtyard gardens of AndalusiaEnclosed patios of water, tile and potted flowers in southern Spain, from the Alhambra to the house courtyards of Córdoba.
🇮🇹 🇬🇧 🇳🇱 🇮🇳Monastery, physic and botanic gardensFrom the monks' herb plot to the university medicine garden to the tropical botanic garden: gardens made for knowledge.
🇬🇧 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 🇩🇰Community and allotment gardensSmall rented plots and shared gardens in cities, where people without land of their own grow vegetables and flowers.
🇮🇳Balcony and terrace flower gardening in Indian citiesPots of jasmine, hibiscus and seasonal annuals on the balconies and flat roofs of Indian flats, grown for worship and pleasure.Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Hanami: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bouquet: James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.); Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed, No restrictions, source
- Garland: No machine-readable author provided. Piotrus assumed (based on copyrig, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Day of the Dead: RubeHM, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Well dressing: User:WhaleyTim, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- International Women's Day: Karl Maria Stadler (1888 – nach 1943), Public domain, source
- Attar: Kerina yin, CC0, source
- rose oil: Itineranttrader, Public domain, source
- Lavender: User:Fir0002, GFDL 1.2, source
- Chelsea Physic Garden: flickr user flickr-rickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Keukenhof: Balou46, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lily-of-the-valley: Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pūjā in Buddhism: Luca Galuzzi ( Lucag ), CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Ikenobō: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oshibana: Pmlydon, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Floristry: Joachimj, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Nosegay: André Karwath aka Aka, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Advent wreath: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY 4.0, source
- Laurel wreath: Unknown author, CC BY 2.5, source
- Boutonnière: David Ring, CC0, source
- Lei: possibly Fernando Le Bleux, Public domain, source
- Phuang malai: Deror Avi, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Gajra: Amarnath, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Toran: Wmpearl, Public domain, source
- Arabian jasmine: Taken by Fanghong, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Flower carpet: Francisco Conde Sánchez, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Puja: Sakkhar21, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Canang sari: Mx. Granger, CC0, source
- Loy Krathong: John Shedrick, CC BY 2.0, source
- Phool Walon Ki Sair: Nvvchar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bathukamma: Randhirreddy at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- language of flowers: Alphonse Mucha, Public domain, source
- Remembrance poppy: Heatherannej, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ukrainian wreath: Samuil Dudin (1863-1929), Public domain, source
- Mother's Day: Dave Parker, CC BY 2.0, source
- Valentine's Day: Upload: Chordboard, Public domain, source
- Dutch Still Life Arrangement: Willem Kalf, Public domain, source
- Tihar Marigold Garlands: Sreekumar K. S., CC BY 2.0, source
- Alfombras: Rosalba Muñoz RomeroLia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bloemencorso: Dekraaie, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rose Parade Floats: Prayitno / Thank you for (12 millions +) view, CC BY 2.0, source
- Silleteros Of Medellin: SajoR, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- All Saints Chrysanthemums: Fra Angelico, Public domain, source
- Sant Jordi Rose: Generalitat de Catalunya, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Plum And Wisteria Viewing: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Superblooms And Wildflower Walks: Bob Wick, BLM, Public domain, source
- Open Gardens: Communications Manager NGS, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Valley Of Flowers And Kaas: Naresh Chandra, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Namaqualand Flower Route: Winfried Bruenken ( Amrum ), CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Aalsmeer Flower Auction: No machine-readable author provided. Miriam8~commonswiki assumed (base, Public domain, source
- Global Cut Flower Trade: Satin66Flower, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Wholesale Flower Markets: EG Focus, CC BY 2.0, source
- Perfume Flowers Of Grasse: Olivier Cleynen, CC BY 4.0, source
- Saffron Harvest: Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tulip Mania: Unknown, 1637, Public domain, source
- Temple Flower Recycling: Meanest Indian, CC BY 2.0, source
- Persian Garden And Charbagh: dynamosquito, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Mughal Gardens: Muhammad Ashar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Japanese Garden Styles: 663highland, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chinese Scholars Garden: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- English Landscape And Cottage Garden: Guido Gerding - external homepage, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- French Formal Garden: Picture taken by deror avi on June 2005., Attribution, source
- Andalusian Courtyard Gardens: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Allotments And Community Gardens: Cryonic07, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Indian Balcony Gardens: Mountain, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jacaranda Season Walks: Kahuroa, Public domain, source