Dear flower lover Reader

Since discovering floriography, it has become central to my art journaling. It let me explore flowers not just as decoration, but as symbols full of meaning. It grounded my work while expanding what was possible in my journal. Since then, nothing has been the same, with flowers becoming language, reflection, and story.

Over the past months, I’ve shared so much about how I art journal inspired by floriography both in my pages as well as through my seasonal flower guides. But I realized something important:

I haven’t actually given you a proper introduction to what floriography is and how you can begin exploring it in your own practice. So let’s start there.

What is floriography?

Floriography, also known as the language of flowers, is the practice of assigning symbolic meanings to different blooms. It became especially popular during the Victorian era, a time when social rules made open emotional expression more restrained. In nineteenth-century England and parts of Europe, flowers became a subtle way to communicate what could not be easily spoken aloud.

Entire dictionaries of flower meanings were published, and carefully chosen bouquets could convey affection, rejection, admiration, jealousy, or devotion. Each flower carried its own message. Sometimes, even the color or the way it was arranged added nuance. A floral gift was never just decorative; it was intentional.

What draws me to floriography isn’t only its history, but its emotional intelligence. It reminds us that symbolism has always been part of human expression. When we bring the language of flowers into art journaling, we step into that tradition. We begin to use imagery as communication. A bloom on the page is no longer just botanical. It becomes metaphor, memory, and meaning layered together.

Curious how to bring flower symbolism into your journal? Check out my latest video: “Using Flower Symbolism in Art Journaling 🌸 A Gentle Guide to Explore Floriography.”

Gathering Creative Inspiration

Before you begin exploring floriography in your journal, give yourself space to enter the world of the flower. I like to think of this as a quiet preparation phase, not planning the page yet, but deepening my connection to the symbol I’m about to work with.

Here are some ways to gather inspiration:

• Explore historical meanings: Read about blooms in the language of flowers, especially sources from the Victorian era.
• Study visual references: Look at botanical illustrations, art history, and how different artists interpret petals, stems, and colors.
• Observe real flowers: Notice how they grow — upright, tangled, delicate, or resilient. Pay attention to color shifts, textures, and natural patterns.
• Work seasonally: Use guides like my Fall Flower Guide to choose blooms that reflect the time of year, helping your journaling feel grounded and present.
• Follow your instinct: Notice which flowers keep appearing in your thoughts or images you’re naturally drawn to. Attraction is often the first layer of symbolism.
• Discover your personal flower: Take my Flower Identity Quiz to find which bloom mirrors your personality or current emotional phase — a playful and meaningful starting point.

This phase of gathering inspiration matters because it shapes how you begin. Once you’ve observed, reflected, and noticed what resonates, you’re no longer choosing randomly but with awareness. And that awareness is exactly what allows floriography to become a meaningful part of your art journaling practice.

How You Can Begin Exploring It

Once you’ve taken time to observe, research, and notice what genuinely resonates, the next step is not to overthink but to begin with intention. Floriography becomes meaningful in your journal when the choice of flower is deliberate. When it reflects something you’re experiencing, questioning, or becoming. Instead of adding flowers to a page because they are beautiful, you begin to work with them because they say something.

From that place of awareness, there are three main ways you can enter the practice:

1. Begin with a flower you’re already drawn to.​
Look through your past pages. Are there blooms that appear again and again? Research their traditional meanings in the language of flowers. Notice what resonates and what doesn’t. Reflect on why you might be returning to that particular form, color, or structure. Sometimes your intuition has been choosing symbols long before your mind understood them.

2. Begin with an emotion, then choose the flower.​
Instead of starting visually, start emotionally. Ask yourself: What am I processing right now? Is it longing, transition, restlessness, gratitude, grief, or renewal? Then search for a flower historically associated with that feeling. Let the symbolism guide your palette, composition, and materials. You may write the meaning discreetly on the page or not at all. The power lies in knowing it’s there.

3. Create your own symbolic system.​
You don’t have to rely solely on Victorian meanings. Develop personal associations. Maybe a wild, imperfect flower represents freedom to you. Maybe an imagined bloom stands for boundaries or courage. When you invent your own floral symbols, you build a visual vocabulary that evolves with you.

Floriography becomes powerful when it moves from concept to practice, when each page is approached with awareness. Over time, your journal begins to feel less like a collection of drawings and more like a layered conversation between image and emotion.

Floriography has transformed the way I approach my journal, and I hope it inspires you to explore your own pages in a deeper, more symbolic way.

I’d love to hear from you: which flower are you drawn to right now, and what might it be saying? Hit reply and share. Your reflections always brighten my day and inspire new ideas.

Stay curious, stay creative, and keep letting flowers speak.

With love,