Create Your Own Spring Bouquet

With spring finally here, it’s time to break out the beautiful flowers. MB Sanok schools us on what each flower in her bouquet means. Read more from MB on her blog, Maple Brown Sugar.

A long winter like this one with polar temperatures and slippery, icy mornings where you never feel quite warm enough even swathed in blankets, hands wrapped around warm mugs, makes you pine for spring. Impatiently, I’m precariously tapping my fuzzy, boot-covered feet against my slick, ice-coated front steps, waiting. The groundhog did say spring was coming, right?!?

One thing about spring I eagerly anticipate is the sharp scent and emerald brilliance of green grass; the tumbling profusions of flowers with their rainbow array of solids, stripes, ombres and speckles; and the heady, hypnotic aromas that put you under nature’s spell. With just a hint of sunshiny warmth, you spring back into action! Suddenly, seemingly impossible and unreachable goals like hot pink rosebuds trapped in blocks of ice, melt and reappear with new vigor. Brought on by spying the first poke in the dirt from an Easter Egg-like crocus, your motivation returns.

Spring signifies new life, rebirth and growth. You Can Do It! Whispers each balmy breeze. Run a marathon, write a book, spruce up your yard, renovate your kitchen, hose down the lawn chairs, find a new job or home, reconnect with friends and family, recover from cabin fever or breathing in the beauty of the season – You Can Make It Happen!

Like in constructing together a bouquet of spring flowers, you want the right elements and the perfect flowers to complement each other. Influenced by The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, a book I read a while back for my book club and enjoyed as much for the flowers as the plot, I think, for each of us, we would want to create arrangements that suit us best. What colors and flowers do we need in our life? What flowers do we already have in the garden we’ve cultivated? What qualities do we identify with and what ones are we hoping to find? What flowers signify what we have and what we need and want? Find the meaning in those flowers and choose wisely!

In creating my perfect spring bouquet, I’ve selected flowers based on what they mean and how they fit into my life. But I also need flowers that provide qualities I wish to have and may not yet possess.

Here are the flowers I want in my spring bouquet, whether they’re already planted in my garden or I need the seeds to sow, and what they mean to me.

Amaryllis (Pride): I’m proud of my life’s accomplishments, so far. Every step forward counts!

Daffodil (You’re the Only One): I’m ultimately the only one who can make my life the way I want it to be and own it.

Daisy (Loyal Love): I have a family who loves me and is loyal to me. I treasure the moments we’ve had together and future ones to come.

Forget-Me-Not (Memories): I have memories and experiences that have shaped the person I am and hope to become.

Iris (Hope): No matter what happens, I always have hope for the future. Life is the ultimate adventure, after all.

Ivy (Wedded Love): I married a great guy whom I love and consider my best friend.  This spring, we celebrate 15 years of for better, for worse and everything in between.

Moss (Maternal Love): I’m blessed with two wonderful children who make me feel like a wonderful mom even when I feel like the worst mom in the world.

Yellow Rose (Friendship): I’m so thankful for the friendships I’ve made throughout the years. Where would I be without them and their support and especially their good humor?

Crocus (Cheerfulness): I tend to be cynical but wish to be more positive. This would be a reminder to stay happy and let it go including the snow!

Forsythia (Anticipation): Anticipation means there’s a reason to get up in the morning, and I hope I always have that.

Tiger Lily (Wealth): Someday, I hope that my writing will enable me to support myself and my family. It will also be validation for taking the time and effort to try to be a writer.

Dark Pink Rose (Thankfulness): I must remind myself to be grateful for the blessings I do have even the little things I don’t always acknowledge.

Flower meaning definitions: http://thelanguageofflowers.com