After a series of natural mishaps, I have finally been able to start the horticultural therapy program at Ann’s Place. While 2011 was the year of building out the landscaping, this year I hope to build out programs as well as a number of therapeutic gardens. Creating tussie-mussies would be my first project. Tussie-mussies were popular among women in Victorian England in the 19th century and represented the high point of flowers as an expression of language. There were countless pocket volumes of books that became essential companions of young women attempting to decipher the meaning of a bouquet. Red rose means passionate love, a daisy, innocence and rosemary, remembrance. During the heyday of tussie-mussies young women would consult a variety of different “floral dictionaries” to discern the true meaning of a received bouquet from a suitor or friend.
While flowers are often considered to be expressions of beauty and loveliness, they can also have not-so-nice meanings. For example, the combination of foxglove, nettle, lettuce, and a yellow carnation would basically say “ I have distain (yellow carnation) for you, you cruel (nettle), cold-hearted (lettuce), insincere (foxglove) person. If you add the herb valerian (shown on the left) to the mix you add the insult ‘drunk and slutty.’ This is probably a flower you never want to include in any bouquet (unless you want to break up with someone.)
But none of these plants were part of the bunch I put together for the half dozen or so of clients I had to work with. All save one were women. While many had a good background with flowers, few knew of the tussie-mussie story, which goes back to Aztec and Middle-Age cultures.
You can make a tussie-mussie with just a few flowers but given the fact that I didn’t know what people would want to say I had to collect a wide variety of flora, some of which I clipped from my yard and surrounding gardens. They were:
Arborvitae—Unchanging friendship
Baby’s breath—Pure heart, festivity
Carnation —Admiration
Carnation, Deep red—Alas, for my poor heart
Carnation, Pink –Woman’s love, beauty, pride
Cedar—Strength
Daffodil—Respect, chivalry, gracefulness
Daisy—Innocence, simplicity
Fern—Fascination, sincerity
Forsythia—Good nature
Holly—Good will, domestic happiness
Ivy—Fidelity
Lily, tiger—Wealth, pride
Moss—Maternal love
Periwinkle—Pleasures of memory
Primrose—Early youth
Rose—Love
Rose, Red—I love you
Rose, Yellow—Friendship
Rosemary—Remembrance
Sage—Virtue, wisdom, skill
Spruce—Farewell, hope in adversity, immortality
Thyme—Activity
As I showed my clients how to put together different bouquets I told them to be watchful in the future of what types of bouquets they purchase from stores as it is easy to make mistakes. I had pictures of four different flower arrangements, each of which looked very nice, each of which had very different meanings. “This one, for instance, is for a hangover as the main flower is hens-and-chicks, which means,’welcome-home-husband-regardless-of-how-drunk-you-are” One woman mused how perhaps she could send that to her ex.
Cedar, which represents strength, was a favorite adornment but was easily confused with arborvitae (unchanging friendship). While they look very similar, cedar has the smell of cat urine when cut; it was easy to differentiate once with a simple snip. Some of my clients initially made their bouquets too large but were able to scale them down with a bit of help and guidance. It takes a bit of a knack to tie everything together as many people have the tendency to grab a large number of samples and try to tie the group together rather than layer in one or two at a time, attaching them with florist wire.
I created a small tussie-mussie for my wife, showing my clients that bigger is not necessarily better. I picked a red rose, daffodils, periwinkle and primrose. They thought it very beautiful and when I brought it home to Juana (with a crib sheet of meanings) she thought it equally beautiful and sweet and rewarded me with a kiss.
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