Carnations for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day and flowers go hand-in-hand and this is especially true of the carnation.

The fragrant, beautiful, and long-lasting carnation has long been a part of many Mother’s Day celebrations. This tradition dates back to the early 1900’s, when Anna Jarvis, gave away 500 white carnations to honor her recently deceased mother. Each mother attending Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia received a flower. A few years later the official Mother’s Day holiday was established and many churches and families continued the carnation tradition.

Anna selected carnation because of their symbolism of love. Give light red carnations to someone you admire and dark red ones to convey love and affection. Share a white flower to signify purity or for a bit of luck and pink to show your gratitude.

And if you want the tradition to continue throughout the growing season, add a few annual, biennial or perennial carnations to your garden or containers.

A bit more information: Add some greenery and spring flowers from your garden to give your carnations a bit of homegrown beauty. Hosta leaves, evergreen boughs and ferns make nice green backdrops. Then add some color with Bleeding heart, hyacinths, tulips and branches of spring flowering shrubs.