A Victorian Flower Dictionary - Mandy Kirkby [32]
For those who wished to communicate the verbena’s message, volunteering to work for a ‘flower mission’ would be one way of spreading the word. Nineteenth-century Christians believed that flowers spoke God’s language, and the purpose of the missions was to distribute blooms to the poor and sick, the idea being that unfortunate people needed more than physical care, they needed inspiration as well. Flowers would be brought into town from suburban growers (the Great Eastern and Great Western railway companies carried boxes at half-price) for volunteers to distribute. The orphanage, the workhouse infirmary and the families of the deserving poor such as postmen and firemen, all would be eligible for the pot plants, cut flowers and nosegays. A Bible verse would be tucked into the nosegay, typically of sweet peas, pansies, carnations and verbenas. An 1879 Illustrated London News has a detailed depiction of a flower mission in action: a small image in the corner shows a forlorn-looking young woman carrying her flowers back home in an empty perambulator. The caption reads: ‘A ray of consolation’.
Hail to thee, Holy Herb!
Growing on the ground
On the Mount of Olivet
First wert thou found.
Thou art good for many an ill,
And healest many a wound;
In the name of sweet Jesus,
I lift thee from the ground.
VIOLET
Modest Worth
The Greek name for this pretty little flower is ion, and the word is said to have its origins in the Greek myth of Ia, daughter of Midas, who was being hotly pursued by Apollo, the handsome and athletic sun god. The goddess Diana, a protector of women, turned Ia into a violet to hide her from Apollo’s lusty intent. In the wild, the violet does grow very low on the ground, its head downcast and concealing itself amidst foliage from the gaze of the sun. As a symbol for modesty and humility, it appealed to the Victorians’ notion of the ideal woman.
THE LOST LOVE
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove:
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love.
A violet by a mossy stone
Half-hidden from the eye! –
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
This unassuming flower was extremely popular, the scented sweet violet and the Parma violet being the most sought after. It was so popular that it was grown commercially on a large scale, the famous Devon Violet nurseries supplying the London market. A woman might pin a posy to her dress to denote her modesty; or a Valentine postcard depicting the flower could be presented as a love token. The sweet violet is traditionally the real flower of Valentine’s Day, not the rose. St Valentine was a Roman priest, executed for marrying Christians. In prison, he wrote a letter to his lover with ink made from the violets growing outside his cell.
The Impressionist painter Edouard Manet sent his sister-in-law, Berthe Morisot, a coded love message in the form of the painting A Bouquet of Violets. A posy sits alongside a red fan and a partially folded letter on which can just be glimpsed the words ‘à Mlle Berthe’ and Manet’s signature.
Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower-girl in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, is first glimpsed selling bunches of violets in Covent Garden; it was a staple of the flower-girl’s basket, along with roses and carnations. The girls would buy their wares in the market early in the morning, spend an hour or so tying them into bunches and making buttonholes, and would then take off for their pitch, the entrances to hospitals and churches being some of the most popular places. In London Flower Girls, a painting by