Friday, January 27, 2012

I'm getting flowers for friends. What color should they be?

I know each type of rose or carnation has some meaning to it, but I don't know what they are. Can anyone tell me what rose/carnation colors symbolize?

I'm getting flowers for friends. What color should they be?
Do people still know the language of flowers? I had a book about that, but don't remember the 'code.' It seems to be different in different places and times, and most people don't seem to know that the flowers' color is supposed to 'mean' something.



Where I live, carnations remind too many people of communism (especially red and white ones), and chrysanthemums are only for funerals.



When I buy flowers - which is a fairly common social expectation where I live - I go by the color that I know my friend likes best, or what will go with the decor of their house. I try to choose something that's in season now, something that will have a nice fragrance, so that they get the visual pleasure as well as the olfactory pleasure of smelling the flowers (though don't get very fragrant flowers if you think they'll put them on the table at a dinner party - it can interfere with the smell and taste of the food).



Roses (especially red) often mean romantic love, and frankly, the ones you buy at a florist shop often have no discernable rose fragrance and - if they are sold as buds - often die without opening up. The heads just droop and turn black. Plus they are expensive. In my book, store-bought roses are a big disappointment and waste of time. Do the flowers have to be roses or carnations?



You could surprise your friends with something unusual, not the cliche, standard roses, for example, in a romantic context. Try violets or a potted flowering bulb that's in season right now (hyacinths have a wonderful fragrance, and they can plant the bulb outside later). Sometimes I can get a huge bouquet of something that's 'in' right now (like tulips) for the price of some hot-house, fragrance-free roses that look like genuine plastic, they are so 'perfect.' The huge bouquet looks lavish and makes my friends laugh - and can be divided up and put in several rooms to give pleasure in more than one place.



What color do your friends like?

Where will they put the flowers (on the table at dinner? in the garden when the bulb dies? will they have a vase big or narrow enough?)

What is fragrant?

What flower will last longest - giving you the most value for your money?



Basically, it seems more important to give your friends pleasure than to follow some strict rules about what a color means - especially if they don't even know what the color means!



Last tip: if your friends are male and female, chances are the woman is more likely to care about the flowers than the man, so if you know anything about her preferences, please her.



If you're totally lost, look at the flowers and find something that strikes you as pretty, and then you can say, 'I chose these flowers because they are delicate/ gorgeous/ romantic/ elegant/ friendly-looking/ exotic, etc., and they remind me of you.'



Even if they are the 'wrong' color, your friends will be flattered by the compliment and the thought.



Flowers are supposed to be fun! Have fun!
Reply:Yellow, friendship.
Reply:here's a link that should help:



http://www.teleflora.com/flowercolors.as...
Reply:well you didnt tell us the reason or gender or your friend. too many open ends here.
Reply:red roses r for love...


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