The language of flowers: what each color says

When someone picks a bouquet, they are almost always choosing a color before a species. And color is what actually communicates: most people can't tell alstroemeria from lisianthus, but everyone reads a red bouquet.

The guide by color

Color	What it says	When to use it
Red	Romantic love, passion, desire	Your partner. In any other context, be careful
Pink	Affection, gratitude, admiration	Mom, friendship, thank-yous
Yellow	Friendship, joy, energy	Friends, birthdays, cheering someone up
Orange	Enthusiasm, pride, vitality	Congratulations, achievements
White	Purity, respect, new beginnings	Weddings, births, condolences
Purple	Admiration, nobility, enchantment	When you want something elegant and less obvious
Blue	Calm, trust, uniqueness	Rare in natural flowers, almost always dyed
Green	Renewal, health, stability	Moving into a new home, recoveries
Multicolor	Celebration with no specific message	The safe choice when you don't want to commit

Where this tradition came from

From 19th-century Victorian England, not from some ancient tradition. In a society where saying outright what you felt was socially impossible, dozens of floral dictionaries were published and bouquets worked as coded messages.

An honest warning: those dictionaries didn't agree with one another. Many meanings repeated today as if they were universal are one particular author's interpretation from 1860. The full story is in why we give flowers.

The meanings that did change

• Yellow roses. In the 19th century they meant jealousy. Today, in Argentina and almost everywhere in the West, they are read as friendship and joy. Unless the recipient is a scholar of Victorian symbolism, there's no risk.
• Yellow tulip. It used to mean "hopeless love." That meaning is completely obsolete.
• Chrysanthemum. It changed by region, not by era: it is an imperial flower in Japan and a cemetery flower in France. It is covered in the meaning of chrysanthemums.

How to use this in practice

1. Decide first what you want to say, then look for the color, and only at the end the species. That is the order that works.
2. When in doubt, go multicolor. It reads as a general celebration and commits you to nothing.
3. No red outside a romantic context. It is the only color mistake that is genuinely awkward.
4. Explain it on the card if you chose something with a specific meaning. Without an explanation it is just another bouquet; with one, it is a thoughtful gift.

Availability of each flower changes with the season. If you are looking for a specific flower, ask us before ordering and we will confirm whether we have it.