Say it with flowers: The Carnation

No self-respecting sampler should be without a carnation

or three tucked away in it's borders or standing tall in some

buxom vase in pride of place.

What is interesting is that it's name is so completely different

in all the major European languages.  Very often there

would be similarities making it easy to guess what flower

someone was talking about, but not so in the case

of the magnificent carnation.

Oeillet - French

Anjer - Dutch

Nelke - German

Garofano - Italian

Clavel - Spanish

They make wonderful squirrel perches.

and in Russia it sounds like something you should

shout loudly before necking a vodka shot - gvozdika!

This symbolic flower is associated with the bonds of affection;

health and energy; fascination and love.  Also a pinkish flesh

tint once used widely in oil paintings of buxom nudes.

The big ones will even take the weight of a stag!

It's the birth flower for the month of January,

the first wedding anniversary flower (new husbands

please take note) and apparently the state flower

of Ohio.  I wonder who decides these things.

Let's shout bagsey on the dog rose for Long Dog!

Colour also plays a part in the symbolism of the carnation.

White is for pure love (baby samplers), red for deep love

(wedding samplers) and purple for capriciousness (quick

samplers that use up spare threads),

Most significant though are the pink carnations which were

superstitiously believed to have first appeared on earth

formed from the tears of the Virgin Mary on her

pathway to Calvary and are symbolic of a mother's

undying love.

It's also the trade name for a delicious brand of evaporated

milk in the UK, as all baby boomers will know, which goes

particularly well with tinned pineapple chunks for

Sunday afters.