Meanings of color in flowers

Learning about the meaning of flower colors gives you an opportunity to send an uncommon sentiment - like sending a secret code to someone you admire.

Be creative with your flower antics. Mix different color meanings in your bouquets. Include the meanings in the card if you send the arrangement to someone.

Flower colors are like a fistful of paintbrushes - color your world with their various meanings and be inspired!

Red Flowers
There is good reason red roses are given to sweethearts. It's because red is symbolic of passion, love, and energy. Red runs through our bodies in raging rivers of blood. Red rushes to our cheeks when we feel the heat of our feelings. Red resonates with the root chakra and reminds us of our animal instincts. Indeed, red is the spark that kindles our most fervent flames of desire. Send red flowers to someone who needs a jolt of energy - this shock of color is sure to get their engines revving!

Orange Flowers
Orange is the closest match to the shade of the sun, so it is symbolic of expansion, growth, and warmth. It is also a color of friendship and community. Think back to when you were a kid, and the sun poured out of the sky after a span of long grey days. Odds are, all the kids in your neighborhood flocked to the streets and parks to play after being cooped up for days. That's the overall feeling of orange; it beckons us to go out and play with friends, remember good times, enjoy the company of like-minds, and share big smiles all around.

Yellow Flowers
Yellow is associated with gold, and is considered a symbol of purity, clarity truth and intellect. Mayans viewed the color in yellow to be associated corn, thus it holds symbolism of provision, sustenance, and all things that are wholesome. Scientific studies indicate writing on yellow tablets increases memory retention. This ties the meaning of flower color in yellow to intelligence and reason. Give yellow flowers to your friend in graduate school to help with his/her studies. Or, give a bright bunch of yellow daffodils to your babysitter to indicate your appreciation for his/her ability to provide honest, wholesome care to your kids.

Green Flowers 
Anybody who has endured a long winter will tell you how jazzed they get at the first glimmer of green in spring. The meaning of flower color in green is about renewal, growth, hope, health and youth. Think of luscious emerald lawns, the smell rich with juicy goodness. You can't help but smile at the thought. Green is also the color of the heart chakra, and so it takes on the meaning of good health. Bright green is the color of Mother Nature at her highest peak. Feel her bounty and embrace her gifts of harvest and health. Express these sentiments by giving a verdant ivy to a friend or loved one today!

Blue Flowers
The symbolism of blue makes me think of that line in the movie Outlaw Josey Wales when Sandra Locke's character observed clouds were like "dreams floating across a sky-blue mind." That's precisely what blue symbolizes - the clarity found in our dreams, thoughts, and imaginations. The color blue speaks to the dreamers in our world, and blue flowers are the perfect gift to call out the muse in the poet, artist or musician in your life. Or, gather up a bunch of blue flowers when you need a boost of inspiration. They are also the perfect hue for enhancing calm and tranquility.

Indigo Flowers
The meaning of flower colors runs deep in the realm of indigo. Consider the cavernous depths of the ocean where currents still themselves to better hear the secrets of their own watery womb. Then consider the yawning waves of indigo clouds that roll on the horizon as an impressive storm brews. Indigo speaks to us of emotions, depth, and expressive moods. Give indigo flowers to people who do too much. The ones you love who never sit still, always running, always doing - these people need indigo in their lives to keep them still so they can listen to the secrets of their own soul-womb.

Violet Flowers
This color in flowers is both energizing and spiritual at the same time. It is used in holy articles as a devotional color too. When we see violet our eyes open wider - we allow its vibrancy to flow into our aura. This natural reaction opens our spiritual senses and reminds us that we are all connected to an infinitely divine system. Violets are the perfect sentiment that says to someone "you are unique, special, and part of a perfect whole." Violet is also considered a color of royalty and nobility in ancient symbolism. Incorporate violet flowers in your life as a symbol of faith, and a reminder that nobility of the heart is the greatest aspiration.

Fairytale garden

Wisteria Tunnel is located at the Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Fukuoka Kitakyusyu, Japan (a 12-hour drive from Tokyo). The flowering Japanese wisteria hang overhead and the different colored rows create a spectacular place to walk through. Wisteria, or wisteria - one of the most beautiful climbing plants, is a large deciduous climber with a hard woody stem. Wisteria flowers with delicate sweet flavor, are collected in large hanging brushes of different colors: white, blue, purple, violet-blue, purple, pink or purple. The best time of the year to go from late April to mid May (depends on the weather each year). The peak is normally at end of April to the Golden Week. Not every year wisteria bloom so magnificently. To get to the garden from JR Yahata station, take Nishitetsu bus #56 and get off at Kawachi Elementary School. Then walk 10-15 min to the garden.

Wisteria (known as fuji in Japan) is said to be one of the archipelago's most ancient noted flowering trees, even being described in the collected poems of the Man'yōshū (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves).

Noda fuji, a species native to Japan, comes in varieties named for their cascading trusses: Usubeni fuji (light pink), Murasaki fuji (purple), Naga fuji (long), Yae kokuryu (double-petaled black dragon), and Shiro fuji (white), which come into bloom in that order. Finally, a yellow variant of wisteria (known as Golden chain or Common laburnum; [Laburnum anagyroides]) - and widely considered difficult to grow in Japan - can also be enjoyed for over a month.

Three massive wisteria trellises extend for more than 1,000㎡, in addition to a large trellis of rare double-petaled wisteria, others suitably arranged as shrubs, an 80-meter tunnel of white and yellow wisteria, and some draped like a living screens, while the early evening sight of wisteria mirrored in the pond takes on an ethereal yet breathtaking beauty.

In mid April, the light pink wisteria is the first of the season to bloom. In contrast to red wisteria (a modern variant) that is found nationwide, these Noda wisteria racemes (hanging clusters) are about 40cm and a delicate pink. And so begin the annual Wisteria Stories. At around this time, the large wisteria also starts to bloom.

Whenever we think of wisteria, our first recollection is usually of its purple cascades. Clusters of Noda wisteria hanging about 40 to 50cm are arranged uniquely within the garden. Almost as if designed as art, each stem is subtly different in color - just like any other distinctive substance, radiating a singular tone (purple, bluish purple, and light bluish purple) to emphasize their beauty.

In February 1996, four large wisteria vines, which have helped define the character of our gardens, were transferred from Asakura town in Ashikaga city to their current site in Hasama town (20km away). They have proved popular over this last decade. The trellis, which covered 72㎡ a decade ago, has now expanded more than tenfold to some 1,000㎡. This is said to be the most beautiful wisteria in the world. 

Walking through the 80-meter tunnel of white wisteria, gently assailed by its sweet aroma, is all but guaranteed to leave you feeling exultant. The Yae kokuryu (Double-petaled black dragon) wisteria is thought to be a mutation of Kokuryu fuji, which is in the Noda Wisteria family. This double-petaled wisteria is reputedly the largest one in Japan, and has the strongest aroma, appearing almost like a bunch of grapes from a little distance. It is much appreciated. Many people can be heard to profess: "I've never seen this before," while admiring the trellis in the middle of the garden.

Golden chain [Laburnum anagyroides vossi] was said to be imported to Japan in around 1970, and it is found in Austria and Switzerland. This has the largest and longest clusters of the Laburnum anagyroides family. It is known as "yellow wisteria" in this garden, since that is its common name in Japan. Our 80-meter tunnel of yellow wisteria is the longest one in Japan, and comes into bloom from early May - representing the final chapter in the wisteria Stories. About 200 yellow wisterias can be enjoyed until around the third week of May.