89 Fun Facts About Flower Arranging

The French word bouquet originally meant what?

Bouquet comes from Old French boschet, 'little wood' or thicket, a diminutive of bosc, 'wood'; the sense narrowed to a clump of flowers by the early 18th century.

In floral design, what is the term for the first thing that attracts the viewer's eye?

The focal point is the main feature of a design; rhythm, balance and scale are among the other principles.

Which ancient people were among the first to place lotus flowers and buds in vases, some 4,000 years ago?

The Egyptians were placing cut lotus flowers and buds in vases as early as 2500 BCE, as tomb paintings and reliefs show; the lotus was sacred to the goddess Isis.

Ikebana's three main line placements correspond to heaven, earth and what?

The three main lines of an ikebana arrangement represent heaven, humans and earth (ten-chi-jin), a scheme credited to the painter Sōami.

The oldest known book on flower arranging is from which country and year?

The oldest known book on flower arranging is Japanese: the Sendensho, an ikebana manual whose earliest material dates from 1445.

What is the alternative name for ikebana, meaning 'way of flowers'?

Chadō is the tea ceremony and kōdō incense appreciation.

Ikebana is one of Japan's three classical arts of refinement, with tea ceremony and what?

Kōdō is the incense art.

In a traditional Japanese home, ikebana arrangements were placed in which alcove?

The tokonoma is the raised alcove of a traditional Japanese room where an ikebana arrangement and a hanging scroll are displayed.

Which shōgun, patron of tea ceremony and ikebana, abdicated to devote himself to the arts?

Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth Ashikaga shōgun, stepped down in 1473 and fostered Higashiyama culture, patronising the tea ceremony and ikebana.

Which is the oldest and largest school of ikebana?

Ikenobō, first recorded in 1462 when the priest Ikenobō Senkei arranged flowers in Kyoto, is the oldest and largest school of ikebana.

The oldest school of ikebana is based at which Kyoto temple?

The name Rokkaku refers to the temple's hexagonal shape.

The name of ikebana's oldest school combines the word for a pond with the word for what?

Ikenobō joins ike, 'pond', with bō, a small hut or lodging for priests: the priests lived beside the pond where Prince Shōtoku was said to have bathed.

What does the ikebana term rikka mean?

Rikka means 'standing flowers'; the style grew from Buddhist altar offerings placed upright in tall vases and was formalised by the Ikenobō school.

In rikka arrangements, what do pine branches symbolise?

In rikka, pine branches symbolise endurance and eternity: the evergreen pine, which keeps its needles through winter, is a classic Japanese emblem of longevity.

Nageire, an informal ikebana style, takes its name from a word meaning what?

Nageire means 'thrown in'; legend says a bored samurai threw plants into a tall vase.

Which ikebana founder introduced the moribana style around 1890?

Ohara Unshin, who left Ikenobō to found the Ohara school in 1895, introduced moribana in the 1890s to use the Western flowers arriving after the Meiji Restoration.

What kind of container does a proper moribana design use?

The suiban lets materials spread sideways.

The kenzan, or pin frog, literally means what in Japanese?

Kenzan is written with the characters for sword (ken) and mountain (zan), describing its bed of upright brass needles set in a heavy lead base.

Which ikebana school was founded by Sōfū Teshigahara in 1927?

Sōgetsu, founded by Sōfū Teshigahara in 1927, holds that ikebana can be done by anyone, anywhere, anytime, with any material.

Sōfū Teshigahara's daughter was succeeded as Sōgetsu head by her brother Hiroshi, better known as what?

Hiroshi Teshigahara directed Woman in the Dunes.

The Ohara school was the first to award ikebana teaching certificates to whom?

The Ohara school was the first to grant ikebana teaching certificates to women; under the founder's son Koun it also moved from individual lessons to group classes.

Which 1954 brand of water-absorbing floral foam became the generic name for the product?

Oasis, the phenolic foam introduced by Smithers-Oasis of Ohio in 1954, soaks up water and grips stems, and its name became shorthand for all floral foam.

Which guild ran the Paris flower trade from 1677 to 1791?

The Maîtresses bouquetières, a guild of women flower sellers chartered in 1677, controlled the Paris flower trade until French guilds were abolished in 1791.

Flower auctions use which pricing system?

Flower auctions run on the Dutch clock, a descending-price system: the price starts high and drops until a buyer stops the clock.

The world's largest flower auction is in which Dutch town?

Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam, hosts Royal FloraHolland's main auction, whose hall is one of the largest buildings in the world by floor area.

Covent Garden's wholesale flower and produce market moved in 1974 to which London district?

Covent Garden's wholesale market, flowers included, left its historic piazza in 1974 for a new site at Nine Elms in Vauxhall, now New Covent Garden Market.

London's Columbia Road Flower Market opens on which day only?

Columbia Road Flower Market trades on Sunday mornings only; the street market grew out of Columbia Market, founded by philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts in 1869.

FTD was founded in 1910 as Florists' Telegraph Delivery in which city?

FTD began in Rochester, New York, in 1910, when a group of florists meeting at the city's Seneca Hotel agreed to exchange out-of-town orders by telegraph.

FTD's Mercury Man logo, adopted in 1914, is based on a sculpture by whom?

The Mercury Man copies Giambologna's bronze Flying Mercury of about 1580; the winged messenger god was chosen to symbolise speedy delivery.

In what year did the UK arm of FTD change its name to Interflora?

The British arm of FTD, founded in 1923 as the Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association, adopted the name Interflora in 1953.

Who acquired the 1-800-Flowers phone number and business in 1986?

James McCann, who had run Manhattan flower shops since 1976, bought the 1-800-Flowers number and business in 1986 and built it into a national brand.

Constance Spry was commissioned in 1953 to arrange the flowers for which event?

Constance Spry arranged the flowers for the coronation of Elizabeth II in June 1953, dressing Westminster Abbey and the processional route from Buckingham Palace.

What was the name of the shop Constance Spry opened in 1929?

Constance Spry opened Flower Decoration in Belgrave Road, Victoria, in 1929 and published a book with the same title in 1934.

Constance Spry caused a sensation with hedgerow flowers in the windows of which Bond Street perfumery?

Spry's hedgerow display in the Old Bond Street windows of Atkinsons perfumery, commissioned by theatrical designer Norman Wilkinson in the late 1920s, made her name.

Which unusual plant material did Constance Spry popularise as a foil for flowers?

Constance Spry popularised ornamental kale, whose frilled leaves she set against flowers, alongside hedgerow finds such as pussy willow, weeds and grasses.

Who designed the bouquet for Sarah Ferguson's 1986 wedding to Prince Andrew?

Jane Packer, who had opened her first London shop in 1982, designed Sarah Ferguson's bouquet for her 1986 wedding to Prince Andrew.

Florist Paula Pryke was appointed OBE in 2014 for services to what?

Paula Pryke's OBE in the 2014 New Year Honours was for services to the floral design industry; she founded Paula Pryke Flowers in Islington, north London.

Celebrity florist Jeff Leatham became artistic director of which Paris hotel in 1999?

Jeff Leatham became artistic director of the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris in 1999, filling its lobby with his signature massed single-colour displays.

Who designed Catherine Middleton's shield-shaped bouquet for her 2011 wedding?

Shane Connolly, who also dressed Westminster Abbey with trees, designed the shield-shaped bouquet of myrtle, lily of the valley, sweet William, hyacinth and ivy.

Which flower in Meghan Markle's 2018 bouquet was handpicked by Prince Harry in honour of his mother?

Forget-me-nots, Diana's favourite flower, were picked by Prince Harry in the Kensington Palace garden for the bouquet that Philippa Craddock designed.

Where was Meghan Markle's bridal bouquet placed after the wedding, following royal tradition?

Meghan's bouquet was laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, a tradition begun by the future Queen Mother at her own wedding in 1923.

Royal brides' myrtle is cut from bushes at which former residence of Queen Victoria?

Osborne House on the Isle of Wight holds the myrtle planted by Queen Victoria in 1845; royal brides from her daughter Vicky in 1858 to Meghan Markle have carried sprigs from it.

Queen Victoria wore a wreath of what instead of a tiara at her 1840 wedding?

Orange blossom was a symbol of fertility.

Which ball-shaped bouquet, carried by a ribbon loop, is popular with flower girls?

A pomander is a sphere of flowers, often roses or carnations, hung from a ribbon loop over the wrist; the name comes from the medieval perfumed ball, pomme d'ambre.

Traditionally, who holds the bride's bouquet during the wedding ceremony?

The maid of honour holds the bouquet during the ceremony; afterwards the bride tosses it over her shoulder.

At a wedding, what is the masculine equivalent of the bouquet toss?

Throwing a garter to the single men is the groom's counterpart to the bride tossing her bouquet to the single women.

A bouquet of flowers packed in tight concentric rings is named after which design period?

A Biedermeier bouquet packs flowers in tight concentric rings of contrasting colour, named for the Biedermeier period of early-19th-century German and Austrian design.

The word 'nosegay' arose in the 15th century combining 'nose' with 'gay', which then meant what?

In 'nosegay' the old noun gay meant an ornament or bright thing, so a nosegay was literally an ornament for the nose: a small sweet-smelling posy.

Victorians exchanged small 'talking bouquets' known by what name?

Tussie-mussies were small posies of symbolic flowers, often carried in silver holders, that Victorians exchanged as coded messages in the language of flowers.

What is the technical term for the language of flowers?

Floriography, the language of flowers, assigns a meaning to each bloom; Victorian dictionaries of the subject let a posy carry a coded message.

Louise Cortambert published her 1819 flower-language dictionary under which pen name?

Louise Cortambert wrote Le Langage des fleurs (1819) as Madame Charlotte de la Tour; Joseph Hammer-Purgstall's 1809 list came earlier, but hers became the model for Victorian flower dictionaries.

In the Victorian language of flowers, lily of the valley meant what?

Lily of the valley meant 'return of happiness' in Victorian floriography; its bell-like May flowers made it a bridal favourite, carried by Grace Kelly in 1956.

Which Shakespeare character hands out pansies, rosemary, fennel, columbine, rue and daisy?

Ophelia, in Hamlet Act 4 Scene 5, hands out rosemary 'for remembrance', pansies 'for thoughts', fennel, columbines, rue and a daisy.

The renewed Victorian interest in the language of flowers is traced to the tulip obsession of which court?

Ottoman Constantinople's 18th-century tulip craze, reported by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, introduced Europe to the sélam, a coded message made of objects and flowers.

The word 'corsage' comes from the French bouquet de corsage, corsage meaning what?

Corsage means bodice: a bouquet de corsage was pinned to the bodice of a woman's dress, a courting gift at formal dances in the early 19th century.

On which lapel is a boutonnière traditionally worn?

A boutonnière is worn on the left lapel, through the buttonhole there, on the same side as the pocket handkerchief.

Which flower, most formal in white, is the classic choice for a boutonnière?

The carnation, white for the most formal dress, is the classic boutonnière; its calyx should sit fully inside the buttonhole.

The word 'wreath' derives from Old English writha, meaning what?

Old English writha meant a band or bandage, something wound around; the word later narrowed to a ring of flowers or leaves worn or hung as decoration.

In myth, Apollo began wearing a laurel wreath after which nymph turned into a laurel tree?

Daphne, fleeing Apollo, was turned into a laurel tree; the grieving god made laurel his emblem, and laurel wreaths came to symbolise victory in Greece and Rome.

Which Lutheran priest created the modern Advent wreath in 1839 from a cart wheel?

Johann Hinrich Wichern, who ran the Rauhes Haus children's home in Hamburg, fixed candles to a cart wheel in 1839 so the children could count down to Christmas.

How many candles does a traditional Advent wreath carry, excluding any central white one?

Four candles, one lit on each Sunday of Advent, sit in the evergreen wreath, sometimes with a fifth white candle in the centre.

Victors at the ancient Olympic Games were crowned with a wreath of which plant?

Ancient Olympic victors received the kotinos, a wreath of wild olive cut from the sacred tree at Olympia; laurel went to Pythian winners and pine to Isthmian ones.

Hawaii's Lei Day is celebrated on which date?

Poet Don Blanding conceived it in 1927.

Who coined the phrase 'May Day is Lei Day'?

Grace Tower Warren, a Honolulu Star-Bulletin columnist, suggested May 1 and coined 'May Day is Lei Day'; her colleague Don Blanding had proposed the holiday.

Which lei ingredient is said to be connected with love, desire and change?

The composition of a lei often determines its significance.

The RHS's great May show has been held since 1913 in the grounds of which institution?

The Chelsea Flower Show has been held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea since 1913; it began as the RHS Great Spring Show in 1862 at Kensington.

The Chelsea Flower Show is held over how many days in May?

The Chelsea Flower Show runs for five days, Tuesday to Saturday, in late May, after a Monday preview attended by members of the royal family.

Which US city hosts the world's oldest and largest indoor flower show?

It draws more than 250,000 people each year.

The first of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's flower shows, in 1829, was held where?

It was a one-day exhibition of fruit, flowers and plants.

Which group first staged Pasadena's Rose Parade in 1890?

The Valley Hunt Club, a Pasadena social club, staged the first Tournament of Roses parade on 1 January 1890 to show off California's winter blooms.

The Netherlands' flower and fruit parade culture was inscribed by UNESCO in which year?

Corso culture, the Netherlands' flower and fruit parades such as Zundert's and the Bollenstreek's, was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in December 2021.

Keukenhof, the Dutch bulb garden, was established in which year by growers to showcase their products?

Keukenhof, in Lisse, was set up in 1949 by a group of bulb growers and exporters as an open-air showcase, opening to visitors in 1950.

What does the name Keukenhof literally mean?

Keukenhof means 'kitchen garden': the 15th-century estate supplied herbs and vegetables to the kitchen of Countess Jacoba van Beieren's castle.

The Japanese custom of hanami almost always means viewing which blossom?

Hanami almost always means viewing cherry blossom (sakura), which flowers from late March; plum-blossom viewing has its own name, umemi.

The Japanese pressed-flower art form oshibana is traced to which century?

Oshibana, the art of pressed flowers, is traced to 16th-century Japan, where samurai were said to practise it to foster patience and concentration.

What is a kokedama?

It combines nearai bonsai and kusamono planting styles.

Who is credited with creating the first terrarium, a sealed glass plant case?

Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a London doctor, found in 1829 that ferns thrived in a sealed glass jar; his Wardian case, described in print in 1842, was the first terrarium.

The word potpourri comes from a French name for what Spanish dish?

Potpourri is the French pot pourri, 'rotten pot', a calque of the Spanish stew olla podrida; the word passed to a jar of scented dried petals in the 18th century.

The world's first floral clock was planted in 1903 in which city?

Edinburgh's floral clock, the world's first, was planted in West Princes Street Gardens in 1903 at the suggestion of parks superintendent John McHattie.

Poinsettias are named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, who held what post?

Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US minister to Mexico (1825-1829), sent the plant home to South Carolina; its Nahuatl name is cuetlaxōchitl.

Which state adopted a red flower as its state flower in honour of the assassinated William McKinley?

Ohio made the scarlet carnation its state flower in 1904 in memory of William McKinley, the Ohio-born president who wore one in his lapel and was assassinated in 1901.

Which species is the baby's-breath most used as bouquet filler?

Gypsophila paniculata, the perennial baby's-breath, is the species grown as florists' filler, in cultivars such as 'Bristol Fairy'; G. elegans is the annual garden form.

Lilium longiflorum is forced to flower out of season for which market?

Lilium longiflorum, the Easter lily, naturally flowers in summer, but growers force the bulbs under controlled temperatures so the white trumpets open for Easter.

In France, lily of the valley is traditionally sold tax-free on which day?

On 1 May, La Fête du Muguet, anyone in France may sell lily of the valley on the street tax-free; legend says Charles IX began giving sprigs as good-luck tokens in 1561.

Many hydrangeas produce blue flowers in what kind of soil?

Acidic soil makes aluminium available to the roots, turning many Hydrangea macrophylla flowers blue; in alkaline soil the same plants bloom pink.

The imperial crest of Japan is which flower?

The monarchy is called the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The Dutch tulip mania investment bubble ran over which years?

Tulip mania ran from 1634 to 1637: prices for rare bulbs climbed through 1636 and collapsed in February 1637, when Haarlem auctions found no buyers.

The heraldic fleur-de-lis is a stylised form of which flower?

The fleur-de-lis, literally 'flower of the lily', is a stylised lily of three petals bound by a band; it appears on Quebec's flag and the old royal arms of France.

Which Japanese aesthetic term for empty space or interval is prized in ikebana composition?

Ma, the Japanese concept of negative space or interval, is prized in ikebana, where the gaps between stems count as much as the material; wabi and yūgen are other aesthetic ideals.