The rose is the great communicator of flowers. You already know that deep love is represented by red roses, but violet or thorn-free roses are the coy way to tell someone that you’re experiencing love at first sight. Hopefully you won’t have to resort to this, but black flowers can say either “good-bye” or “I hate you.”

An orchid cattleya tells a woman that she has a mature charm about her, while a rhododendron tells someone that she is in danger. Imagine how confusing it would be to receive a striped carnation – it can either be a way of saying no to someone, or it can say that you wish you could be with them. In Victorian times, people had flower dictionaries, but the dictionaries were not all identical, thus the mixed meanings.

A calla lily tells a woman that she is magnificently beautiful, while an orange lily connotes loathing or hatred. Today you could send a truckload of orange lily wholesale flowers to say, “We really need a divorce.”

On the optimistic side, yellow tulips say, “You have sunshine in your smile.” Birds of paradise have a present-day symbolic meaning of fidelity and commitment.

Because the Victorian language of flowers is a bygone art, you may have to take some liberties and develop your own system of meaning. If you don’t want to text someone a message or call them, then buying a bunch of wholesale flowers may be a fun new art of communication.