Crafting a Late Spring Flower Crown
Spring has come and almost gone, as we have gone through the first full week of June. This time of year is so lovely, albeit a bit humid where I live. The flowers are really coming to life, and our garden is usually fully planted. We sit back and wait while it grows, tending to the weeds and watering on days when there has been no rain. We have watched the peonies bloom, followed by the falling of their petals littering the ground around them. They were so vivid this year, being the fourth season since they had been planted! Some of the peonies on our farm are well over 50 years old, as they were planted long before we ever lived here. We divided them up a few seasons ago and spread them out farther across the farm. Did you know that peonies can live to be 100 years old or older? Isn’t that amazing? Perhaps the new peonies that we planted a few years ago will be seen one day by my grandchildren or great-grandchildren on this farm.
We spent the evening making some films amongst the flowers, and Mom put this flower crown together in a matter of minutes. Sometimes I forget that it was not too long ago we were growing flowers for weddings and events, and making flower crowns was something that we spent most of the summer working on. There has been so much change in only a few years, some of the little tidbits like that get lost in my memory and they feel like a fever dream. While the constant change can be a bit overwhelming, I am also so proud of all of the skills and things that we have learned. This was a very quick flower crown, but it is not less beautiful! I love the pairing of pink and purple peonies, roses, and bachelor’s buttons.
the meaning of flower crowns:
When I first started writing our blog in 2015, I spent most of my time researching the meaning behind medicinal herbs and their folklore. I was absolutely obsessed with Outlander, and I read the books fervently. I owe a lot of my career to Diana Gabaldon, as her novels inspired me to trying growing my own herb garden, which led to a big vegetable garden in the backyard, a flock of chickens, and eventually our farm. Now here we are. I changed directions a few times, but lately I have wanted to return to my roots, talking about food history and herbs, folklore and literature. I find the evolution of blogs so fascinating; I changed my direction a lot because of what performed better online, but that was not necessarily what inspired my soul.
When I think of the symbolic meaning of flower crowns, I am reminded of those early blog posts and my research. Flower crowns have been worn and written about since Ancient times, especially by the Greek. They believed that wearing crowns of laurel, rosemary, and thyme were representative of fertility, love, and power. They could help bring vitality to the wearer, and they were worn by victors and heroes.
The flower crown fell in and out of fashion over time, and it is no surprise that it was quite popular during the Victorian era. I feel like everything that I love leads back to the Victorian period! Queen Victoria wore a crown of orange blossoms in her hair during her wedding to Prince Albert, and they became the height of fashion for weddings.
the symbolism of spring flowerS:
For this particular flower crown, we used a lovely collection of spring flowers currently blooming on our farm. The colors are so sweet this time of year, blushing pinks and soft peach. There is also a little hint of bright purple and blue! I have a love for peach colored flowers. How about you?
PEONIES: Peonies are a symbol of love, honor, happiness, wealth, romance, and beauty.
ROSES: Roses are a symbol of love, passion, romance, friendship, joy, beauty, and courage.
BACHELOR’S BUTTONS: Bachelor’s buttons were widely popular in the Victorian era for being a symbol of availability for a suitor! Men would traditionally wear them in their buttonhole of their suit to share they were looking for a wife. They have since become a popular flower for the groom’s boutonniere.
CHAMOMILE: Chamomile is a symbol of power, the sun, a ward against bad luck, and wealth.
The base of this flower crown is made from the branches willow, which hold their own folkloric meaning. They are the symbol of fertility and new life, as a willow branch can be planted in the grown and a new tree will grow from it. How incredible is that?
I absolutely love learning these ancient meanings behind the flowers and plants that we love and know well today. I feel that so many of these meanings get lost over time, and how wonderful is it to share the beauty of flowers with each other today?
xoxo Kayla
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