Here is the support material and the resources for my video about Wildflowers in Shropshire Folklore on the # Folk

Community Group’s Facebook page and Youtube channel.

Available from 12 June, 2020 at 2:00pm BST.

Writing Exercise:

Make a virtual floral bouquet for a person you haven’t been able to see during the lockdown using Floriography. The meaning of the flowers will express how you feel about that person, your situation, their absence . . . You can write this just in the flower names arranged in a certain order – or turn it into a poem or a flash fiction piece of fewer than 200 words. 

Please share your work on the #Folk facebook page – if you would like to!

Floriography:

White rose: purity, innocence, reverence, a new beginning, a fresh start.Red rose: love, I love youDeep, dark crimson rose: mourningPink rose: grace, happiness, gentlenessYellow rose: jealousy, infidelityOrange rose: desire and enthusiasmLavender rose: love at first sightCoral rose: friendship, modesty, sympathy

 In a sort of silent dialogue, flowers could be used to answer “yes” or “no” questions. A “yes” answer came in the form of flowers handed over with the right hand; if the left hand was used, the answer was “no.”

Symbolic Meanings of Herbs, Flowers and Other PlantsAbatinaFicklenessAcanthusThe fine art, artificeAloeAffection, also griefAmaryllisPrideAnemoneForsaken, sicknessAngelicaInspirationApple blossomPreferenceArborvitaeUnchanging friendshipAsterSymbol of Love, DaintinessBachelor’s buttonSingle blessednessSweet BasilGood wishesBay treeGloryBegoniaBeware, dark thoughtsBelledonnaSilenceBittersweetTruthBlack-eyed SusanJusticeBluebellHumility, constancyBorageBluntness, directnessButterfly weedLet me goCamellia, pinkLonging For YouCamellia, redYou’re a Flame in My HeartCamellia, whiteYou’re AdroableCandytuftIndifferenceCarnationWomen, Love– Red carnationAlas for my poor heart, my heart aches– White carnationInnocence, pure love, women’s good luck gift– Pink carnationI’ll never forget you– StripedRefusal– Yellow carnationDisdain, disappointment, rejectionChamomilePatience in adversityChivesUsefulnessChrysanthemum, redI love youChrysanthemum, yellowSlighted loveChrysanthemum, whiteTruthClematisMental beautyClematis, evergreenPovertyClover, whiteThink of meColumbineFoolishness, follyColumbine, purpleResolutionColumbine, redAnxious, tremblingCoreopsisAlways cheerfulCorianderHidden worth/meritCrab blossomIll natureCrocus, springYouthful gladnessCyclamenResignation, diffidenceDaffodilRegard, Unequalled LoveDahlia, singleGood tasteDaisyInnocence, hopeDillPowerful against evilEdelweissCourage, devotionFennelFlatteryFernSincerity, humility; also, magic and bonds of loveForget-me-notTrue love memories, do not forget meGardeniaSecret loveGeranium, oak-leavedTrue friendshipGladiolusRemembranceGoldenrodEncouragement, good fortuneHeliotropeEternal love, devotionHibiscusDelicate beautyHollyForesightHollyhockAmbitionHoneysuckleBonds of loveHyacinthSport, game, play– Blue HyacinthConstancy– Purple HyacinthSorrow– Yellow HyacinthJealousy– White HyacinthLoveliness, prayers for someoneHydrangeaGratitude for being understood; frigidity and heartlessnessHyssopSacrifice, cleanlinessIrisA messageIvyFriendship, fidelity, marriageJasmine, whiteSweet love, amiabilityJasmine, yellowGrace and eleganceLady’s SlipperCapricious beautyLarkspurLightness, levityLavenderDistrust Lemon balmSympathyLilacJoy of youthLily, callaBeautyLily, dayChinese emblem for motherLily-of-the-valleySweetness, purity, pure loveLotus FlowerPurity, enlightenment, self-regeneration, and rebirthMagnoliaLove of natureMarigold Despair, grief, jealousyMarjoramJoy and happinessMintVirtueMorning gloryAffectionMyrtleGood luck and love in a marriageNasturtiumPatriotismOakStrengthOreganoSubstancePansyThoughtsParsleyFestivityPeonyBashful, happy lifePineHumilityPoppy, redConsolationRhododendronDanger, bewareRose, redLove, I love you.Rose, dark crimsonMourningRose, pinkHappinessRose, whiteI’m worthy of youRose, yellowJealousy, decrease of love, infidelityRosemaryRemembranceRueGrace, clear visionSageWisdom, immortalitySalvia, blueI think of youSalvia, redForever mineSavorySpice, interestSnapdragonDeception, graciousnessSorrelAffectionSouthernwoodConstancy, jestSpearmintWarmth of sentimentSpeedwellFeminine fidelity



Sunflower, tallHaughtinessSweet peaDelicate pleasuresSweet WilliamGallantrySweet woodruffHumilityTansyHostile thoughts, declaring warTarragonLasting interestThymeCourage, strengthTulip, redPassion, declaration of loveTulip, yellowSunshine in your smileValerianReadinessVioletLoyalty, devotion, faithfulness, modestyWallflowerFaithfulness in adversityWillowSadnessYarrowEverlasting loveZinniaThoughts of absent friends



Dog Rose

Extracts from the work of Shropshire writer – Mary Webb (1881-1927) – focussing on wildflowers:

“Flowers like the oxlip, with transparently thin petals, only faintly washed with colour, yet have a distinct and pervasive scent. Daisies are redolent of babyhood and whiteness. Wood anemones, lady’s smock, bird’s-foot trefoil and other frail flowers will permeate a room with their fresh breath. In some deep lane one is suddenly pierced to the heart by the sweetness of woodruff, inhabitant of hidden places, shining like a little lamp on a table of green leaves. It is like heliotrope and new-mown hay with something wholly individual as well. To stand still, letting cheek and heart be gently buffeted by the purity, is to be shriven.”

“Mauve has a delicate artificiality, something neither of earth nor heaven. It is like the temperament which can express in sheer artistic pleasure heights and depths which it can never touch. Whether it is sultry, as in lilac, or cool, as in lady’s smocks, this mingling of fierce red and saintly blue has an elfin quality. Hence comes the eeriness of a field of autumn crocuses at twilight, when every folded flower is growing invisible, and doubtless there is a fairy curled up in each. Children look for the Little People in mauve flowers – Canterbury bells and hyacinths – and, though they never find them, they know them there. Mauve enchants the mind, lures it to open its amethyst door, and behold! nothing but emptiness and eldritch moonshine.” 

Quotes from “The Spring of Joy – a little book of Healing” by Mary Webb

“And I thought, as I looked round the diary that it was as good a place as anybody could wish for asking to wed. The sun shone, slanting in, though it was off the dairy most of the day. The damp red quarries and the big brown steans made a deal of colour in the place and the yellow cream and butter and the piles of cheeses were as bright as buttercups and primmyroses. Jancis matched well with them, with her pretty yellow hair and her face all flushed at the sight of Gideon. She was like a rose in her pink gown. Outside the window, in the pink budded may tree, a thrush was singing.” 

From “Precious Bane” by Mary Webb

“The sky blossomed in parterres of roses, frailer and brighter than the rose of the briar, and melted beneath them into lagoons greener and paler than the veins of a young beech leaf. The fairy hedges were so high, so flushed with beauty, the green airy waters ran so far back into mystery, that it seemed as if at any moment God might walk there as in a garden, delicate as a moth. Down by the stream Hazel found tall water plantains, triune of cup, standing above the ooze like candelabras, and small rough-leaved forget me nots eyeing their liquid reflections with complaisance.”

from “Gone to Earth”  by Mary Webb

Thanks to the players of the #NationalLottery for making this possible through Arts For All funding