Here is the support material and the resources for my video about Wildflowers in Shropshire Folklore on the #Folk
Community Group’s Facebook page and Youtube channel.
Available from 12 June, 2020 at 2:00pm BST.
Writing Exercise:
Make a virtual floral bouquet for a person you haven’t been able to see during the lockdown using Floriography. The meaning of the flowers will express how you feel about that person, your situation, their absence . . . You can write this just in the flower names arranged in a certain order – or turn it into a poem or a flash fiction piece of fewer than 200 words.
Please share your work on the #Folk facebook page – if you would like to!
Floriography:
- White rose: purity, innocence, reverence, a new beginning, a fresh start.
- Red rose: love, I love you
- Deep, dark crimson rose: mourning
- Pink rose: grace, happiness, gentleness
- Yellow rose: jealousy, infidelity
- Orange rose: desire and enthusiasm
- Lavender rose: love at first sight
- Coral rose: friendship, modesty, sympathy
In a sort of silent dialogue, flowers could be used to answer “yes” or “no” questions. A “yes” answer came in the form of flowers handed over with the right hand; if the left hand was used, the answer was “no.”
| Symbolic Meanings of Herbs, Flowers and Other Plants | |
| Abatina | Fickleness |
| Acanthus | The fine art, artifice |
| Aloe | Affection, also grief |
| Amaryllis | Pride |
| Anemone | Forsaken, sickness |
| Angelica | Inspiration |
| Apple blossom | Preference |
| Arborvitae | Unchanging friendship |
| Aster | Symbol of Love, Daintiness |
| Bachelor’s button | Single blessedness |
| Sweet Basil | Good wishes |
| Bay tree | Glory |
| Begonia | Beware, dark thoughts |
| Belledonna | Silence |
| Bittersweet | Truth |
| Black-eyed Susan | Justice |
| Bluebell | Humility, constancy |
| Borage | Bluntness, directness |
| Butterfly weed | Let me go |
| Camellia, pink | Longing For You |
| Camellia, red | You’re a Flame in My Heart |
| Camellia, white | You’re Adroable |
| Candytuft | Indifference |
| Carnation | Women, Love |
| – Red carnation | Alas for my poor heart, my heart aches |
| – White carnation | Innocence, pure love, women’s good luck gift |
| – Pink carnation | I’ll never forget you |
| – Striped | Refusal |
| – Yellow carnation | Disdain, disappointment, rejection |
| Chamomile | Patience in adversity |
| Chives | Usefulness |
| Chrysanthemum, red | I love you |
| Chrysanthemum, yellow | Slighted love |
| Chrysanthemum, white | Truth |
| Clematis | Mental beauty |
| Clematis, evergreen | Poverty |
| Clover, white | Think of me |
| Columbine | Foolishness, folly |
| Columbine, purple | Resolution |
| Columbine, red | Anxious, trembling |
| Coreopsis | Always cheerful |
| Coriander | Hidden worth/merit |
| Crab blossom | Ill nature |
| Crocus, spring | Youthful gladness |
| Cyclamen | Resignation, diffidence |
| Daffodil | Regard, Unequalled Love |
| Dahlia, single | Good taste |
| Daisy | Innocence, hope |
| Dill | Powerful against evil |
| Edelweiss | Courage, devotion |
| Fennel | Flattery |
| Fern | Sincerity, humility; also, magic and bonds of love |
| Forget-me-not | True love memories, do not forget me |
| Gardenia | Secret love |
| Geranium, oak-leaved | True friendship |
| Gladiolus | Remembrance |
| Goldenrod | Encouragement, good fortune |
| Heliotrope | Eternal love, devotion |
| Hibiscus | Delicate beauty |
| Holly | Foresight |
| Hollyhock | Ambition |
| Honeysuckle | Bonds of love |
| Hyacinth | Sport, game, play |
| – Blue Hyacinth | Constancy |
| – Purple Hyacinth | Sorrow |
| – Yellow Hyacinth | Jealousy |
| – White Hyacinth | Loveliness, prayers for someone |
| Hydrangea | Gratitude for being understood; frigidity and heartlessness |
| Hyssop | Sacrifice, cleanliness |
| Iris | A message |
| Ivy | Friendship, fidelity, marriage |
| Jasmine, white | Sweet love, amiability |
| Jasmine, yellow | Grace and elegance |
| Lady’s Slipper | Capricious beauty |
| Larkspur | Lightness, levity |
| Lavender | Distrust |
| Lemon balm | Sympathy |
| Lilac | Joy of youth |
| Lily, calla | Beauty |
| Lily, day | Chinese emblem for mother |
| Lily-of-the-valley | Sweetness, purity, pure love |
| Lotus Flower | Purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration, and rebirth |
| Magnolia | Love of nature |
| Marigold | Despair, grief, jealousy |
| Marjoram | Joy and happiness |
| Mint | Virtue |
| Morning glory | Affection |
| Myrtle | Good luck and love in a marriage |
| Nasturtium | Patriotism |
| Oak | Strength |
| Oregano | Substance |
| Pansy | Thoughts |
| Parsley | Festivity |
| Peony | Bashful, happy life |
| Pine | Humility |
| Poppy, red | Consolation |
| Rhododendron | Danger, beware |
| Rose, red | Love, I love you. |
| Rose, dark crimson | Mourning |
| Rose, pink | Happiness |
| Rose, white | I’m worthy of you |
| Rose, yellow | Jealousy, decrease of love, infidelity |
| Rosemary | Remembrance |
| Rue | Grace, clear vision |
| Sage | Wisdom, immortality |
| Salvia, blue | I think of you |
| Salvia, red | Forever mine |
| Savory | Spice, interest |
| Snapdragon | Deception, graciousness |
| Sorrel | Affection |
| Southernwood | Constancy, jest |
| Spearmint | Warmth of sentiment |
| Speedwell | Feminine fidelity |
| Sunflower, tall | Haughtiness |
| Sweet pea | Delicate pleasures |
| Sweet William | Gallantry |
| Sweet woodruff | Humility |
| Tansy | Hostile thoughts, declaring war |
| Tarragon | Lasting interest |
| Thyme | Courage, strength |
| Tulip, red | Passion, declaration of love |
| Tulip, yellow | Sunshine in your smile |
| Valerian | Readiness |
| Violet | Loyalty, devotion, faithfulness, modesty |
| Wallflower | Faithfulness in adversity |
| Willow | Sadness |
| Yarrow | Everlasting love |
| Zinnia | Thoughts of absent friends |
Extracts from the work of Shropshire writer – Mary Webb (1881-1927) – focussing on wildflowers:
“Flowers like the oxlip, with transparently thin petals, only faintly washed with colour, yet have a distinct and pervasive scent. Daisies are redolent of babyhood and whiteness. Wood anemones, lady’s smock, bird’s-foot trefoil and other frail flowers will permeate a room with their fresh breath. In some deep lane one is suddenly pierced to the heart by the sweetness of woodruff, inhabitant of hidden places, shining like a little lamp on a table of green leaves. It is like heliotrope and new-mown hay with something wholly individual as well. To stand still, letting cheek and heart be gently buffeted by the purity, is to be shriven.”
“Mauve has a delicate artificiality, something neither of earth nor heaven. It is like the temperament which can express in sheer artistic pleasure heights and depths which it can never touch. Whether it is sultry, as in lilac, or cool, as in lady’s smocks, this mingling of fierce red and saintly blue has an elfin quality. Hence comes the eeriness of a field of autumn crocuses at twilight, when every folded flower is growing invisible, and doubtless there is a fairy curled up in each. Children look for the Little People in mauve flowers – Canterbury bells and hyacinths – and, though they never find them, they know them there. Mauve enchants the mind, lures it to open its amethyst door, and behold! nothing but emptiness and eldritch moonshine.”
Quotes from “The Spring of Joy – a little book of Healing” by Mary Webb
“And I thought, as I looked round the diary that it was as good a place as anybody could wish for asking to wed. The sun shone, slanting in, though it was off the dairy most of the day. The damp red quarries and the big brown steans made a deal of colour in the place and the yellow cream and butter and the piles of cheeses were as bright as buttercups and primmyroses. Jancis matched well with them, with her pretty yellow hair and her face all flushed at the sight of Gideon. She was like a rose in her pink gown. Outside the window, in the pink budded may tree, a thrush was singing.”
From “Precious Bane” by Mary Webb
“The sky blossomed in parterres of roses, frailer and brighter than the rose of the briar, and melted beneath them into lagoons greener and paler than the veins of a young beech leaf. The fairy hedges were so high, so flushed with beauty, the green airy waters ran so far back into mystery, that it seemed as if at any moment God might walk there as in a garden, delicate as a moth. Down by the stream Hazel found tall water plantains, triune of cup, standing above the ooze like candelabras, and small rough-leaved forget me nots eyeing their liquid reflections with complaisance.”
from “Gone to Earth” by Mary Webb
Thanks to the players of the #NationalLottery for making this possible through Arts For All funding