Warm temperatures might be months away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t infuse your life with a little springtime color and some beautiful carnations this winter. As the official birth flower for January, carnations are a vibrant part of any arrangement from Julia’s Florist in Wilmington, and they’ll make you feel like spring is already here.
Celebrating with Carnations
If you think about it, carnations are routinely featured in so many special occasions. They often appear on the wrists of high school students who are headed to prom, and they’re a frequent collaborator within lush vases of flowers we give to our mothers. They’re also the ideal gift for a couple celebrating a year of marriage since they’re the official flower of the first wedding anniversary.
If you look closely at a carnation, you’ll notice a series of curled and winding petals that almost look as though the flower was made of tissue paper. Delicate yet complex, they are a perfect match with almost any flower like roses and mums, and they also look stunning when displayed in a large bouquet of pink and purple or white and red.
A Little History
Carnations are an ancient flower and saw the rise and fall of the Greek and Roman empires thousands of years ago. They’ve been revered as a flower for royalty, as well as enjoyed by regular people for all sorts of celebrations like birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. One ancient story suggests that the first carnations grew after the Virgin Mary’s tears hit the ground as she cried.
Much like roses, different colors of carnations offer fairly simple and obvious meanings. For example, a vase of pink flowers can celebrate affection and the arrival of a baby girl, and red can mean true love. In any color, carnations are an elegant symbol for love, devotion, and remembrance, but one of the most fascinating meanings for them concerns the striped carnation, which is viewed by some as a symbol of regret or lost love.
Carnations are a popular feature in arrangements that span the length of the human experience. From vases of pink flowers that congratulate a couple on the birth of their child, to arrangements of red given as a symbol of love or a wedding anniversary. Surprise a friend or loved one this January with a colorful and memorable arrangement and chase away the crisp temperatures of winter.
