A Victorian Flower Dictionary - Mandy Kirkby [6]
Oscar Wilde wore a green carnation in his buttonhole to the opening night of Lady Windermere’s Fan in 1892, with mauve gloves. He asked friends in the audience to wear one too, to be obtained from Goodyear the florist in the Royal Arcade in Mayfair. When asked what the carnation meant, he replied, ‘Nothing whatever, but that is just what nobody will guess.’
Louisa Anne Twamley, in her 1836 The Romance of Nature, warned inattentive young women to use the carnation with care when conveying love messages. She explains why in a chivalric floral ballad entitled ‘Carnations and Cavaliers’. The Lady Edith and the knight Sir Rupert are saying good-night, and he presents her with a pink (pure love). Inadvertently, she gives him back a carnation – presumably striped – forgetting that:
The Pink, by Knight to Ladye given,
Prays her to be his Bride –
The proud carnation answering tells
That fervent prayer’s denied.
And later in the poem:
Now, Ladye – when a Cavalier
Presents a chequered PINK,
’Tis time to ascertain, my dear,
His rent roll, you may think.
And then – provided his estate
Don’t meet your approbation,
It cannot, surely, be too late
To cut – with a CARNATION.
CHAMOMILE
Energy in Adversity
‘The chamomile bed; the more it is trodden, the more it will spread.’
PROVERB
Chamomile is an unassuming little plant: its flower is daisy-like and petite, its foliage light and feathery, its fragrance gentle. But what battles it fights, and how much stronger it is for the undertaking! A flower of grassland and sandy commons, it falls prey to grazing cattle and trampling feet and, in response, it grows lower and tighter: it finds the courage to survive and is all the stronger for it.
The name chamomile is derived from the Greek word khamaemelon, meaning ‘earth apple’, a reference to the plant’s fruity fragrance. It is native to Britain, and has been cultivated as both a medicinal herb and a turfing plant for lawns. The chamomile lawn and seat were favourite features of Elizabethan gardens, mossily soft and smelling of apples when sat upon, but only regular clipping and deflowering would achieve a tight sward. It is said that Francis Drake’s famous game of bowls was played on a chamomile lawn.
‘Chamomylle is very agreeing unto the nature of man, and is good against weariness.’
WILLIAM TURNER, SIXTEENTH-CENTURY BOTANIST
The Victorians knew chamomile as a great cure-all and energy giver. A tea brewed with the flowers would act as a restorative; a distillation of the oil made into a cream and rubbed into the skin or added to bathwater would ease pain and take away fatigue. Brought into the sickroom, a few clippings tied together with fennel fronds and sprigs of peppermint would give strength and encouragement for a swift recovery. In the cottage garden, chamomile even had the reputation of being able to restore to health any sickly plant near which it was grown.
The Camomile, a 1922 novel by Catherine Carswell, follows the struggles of a young woman who wants to be a writer, and who suffers disapproval and setbacks all along the way. The novel is semi-autobiographical: Carswell was brought up by strict Victorian parents, and she rejected the conventional life they had planned for her by becoming a journalist and writer. Her personal life was full of tragedy – a disastrous first marriage and the death of a child – and she too, like her heroine, overcame adversity to achieve her goal.
CHERRY BLOSSOM
Impermanence
A cherry tree in full bloom is one of the most glorious sights of the spring calendar – the effect of its pink or white flowers en masse is almost ethereal. But its splendour is short-lived: the blossom soon falls to the ground in great drifts like snow, and its glory is over. It is a reminder that life is fleeting and time is precious. Enjoy the moment, celebrate its coming, acknowledge its passing without sorrow.
LOVELIEST OF TREES, THE CHERRY NOW
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom