The Poinsettia remains a favorite plant for the holidays. Plants, like people, sometimes make a…
Victorian Flower Fascination Continues
Victorian flower fascination continues.
Victorians loved their flowers. The showier, the brighter, the better.
So argues Nicolette Scourse in her book The Victorians and their Flowers.
The basis of that devotion to flowers stems from the view that flowers express a link to the Creator.
Scourse writes, “It had been an accepted fact ‘that the most highly adorned productions of Flora’s kingdom were called into existence’ only at the appearance of man and his intellect capable of contemplating floral beauty.”
Now that we have begun our summer adventure in the garden which, of course, includes cultivating flowers, whether perennial or annual, you see how important a role flowers play in the garden.
We love our flowers today as much as the Victorians.
Scourse writes, “In some aspects we still view flowers and nature in very much the same way as the Victorians: we thrill at the exotic, the macabre and the concept of wilderness (still in the comfort of an armchair, albeit via a different medium). Sentimental renderings of rustic cottage gardens, ‘laughing streams, and flower-bedecked fields,’ harvest mice and pastel-tinted, honeysuckle hedgerows still abound, together with nostalgia for a pre-Industrial lifestyle.”
Right now garden centers and nurseries abound in colorful selections of flowers, eager to go home with us.
Flowers still impact your eyes, your nose, and even your touch.
The Victorian fascination with flowers continues.
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I’ve tried Balsam this summer — that was a popular Victorian-era flower that has fallen out of favor, as so many plants do. We’ll see how it does.
Beth, balsam has camellia-like flowers according to Vick’s catalog. They are beautiful. Good luck to you. Best.