A Victorian Flower Dictionary - Mandy Kirkby [33]
WALLFLOWER
Fidelity in Adversity
An emblem true thou art
Of love’s enduring lustre, given
To cheer a lonely heart;
The emblem of a friend
Who in trouble will abide,
All needful help to lend.
ANON.
The wallflower blooms in late spring, and its warm, bright colours – orange, red and yellow, all intermingling – are an encouraging sign that the summer’s heat is not too far away. In its wild state it is often solitary, and fastens itself firmly to walls or trees where it would appear that there is little nourishment to be had. It refuses, save when torn away by force, to quit its hold. When the first bloom is over, fresh blossoms are soon produced, as rich and fragrant as the first; it seems to know no exhaustion.
There is a famous old story about the wallflower; although the location varies from Scotland to France, this sad tale loses none of its romance. A minstrel and an earl’s daughter fall in love and plan to elope. He sings beneath her window in the castle tower and suggests in his song a means of escape. The girl drops a sprig of wallflower plucked from a cranny in the wall to show that she has understood the message, but when the time comes, in her agitation she loses her footing and falls to her death. The distraught troubadour travels the land for the rest of his life, wearing a sprig of the flower in his cap. In memory of his continuing attachment to his lost love, the wallflower is the symbol for continuing faith in times of adversity, used by lovers and the religious-minded alike.
The homely wallflower grows all over Europe, wild and culti-vated, and may have been brought over to Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest. It has always been loved for its sweet fragrance, warm and spicy like that of the carnation. It was used in nosegays in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and again in the nineteenth in scented spring posies, in the May Day garland and as a delicious perfume. A few sprigs in an envelope sent to a lover would reassure, to a friend would convey continuing support. If a lady kept to her seat at the side of the room during a dance, whether from choice or lack of a partner, she would be called a wallflower, reflecting the plant’s solitary habit.
Out of season, if there was a pressing need for wallflowers then Emma Peachey’s indispensable Royal Guide to Wax Flower Modelling could solve the problem. With pre-prepared sheets of wax, metal pins and wires, sable brushes, colour paints and Mrs Peachey’s detailed instructions, the wallflower could be recreated and enjoyed all year round, as could numerous other favourite Victorian flowers. This popular pastime needed to be approached with some caution, however: the paints contained lead and copper. Mrs Peachey recommended the materials she sold under her name and from her outlets, for example in the Soho Bazaar, which contained no poisons, and she assured her readers that they could indulge in the amusement in perfect safety.
WATER LILY
Purity of Heart
Fairest of Flora’s lovely daughters
That bloom by stilly running waters.
REV. FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER
The waters that run through our meadows or form quiet lakes of greenness host some of the loveliest flowers, the water lily perhaps the most beautiful of all. Its perfection is almost unreal, the white bloom especially, like a sculptured alabaster cup lying among glossy bright green leaves. The flower emerges sparkling and unblemished from out of the mud, pure and clean, ready to open in the warmth of the sun.
The Victorians thought it exquisitely beautiful and in the first decades of the nineteenth century, when intrepid botanists began to bring