Flowers have been steeped in symbolism and meaning for thousands of years. However, the Victorians took it to a whole new level through a fascinating and intricate system for conveying unspoken sentiments: floriography, or the language of flowers. A carefully assembled bouquet could articulate emotions, intentions, and even veiled criticisms that words could not. The context was also important; a bloom presented upside down could reverse its conventional meaning, a withered bouquet communicated a rejection of affection. Even the manner of acceptance held significance; receiving with the right hand signified affirmation, while the left indicated refusal.

Head Gardener Chris discusses some of his favourite floriography flowers, delving into what they symbolise, as well as giving us some interesting facts and stories about them too.

Lily of the valley

For number one, I've chosen lily of the valley. Lily of the valley is a flower that we have in abundance at Watts. It flowers in May – just about at the beginning of summer, so it kind of symbolises the end of winter and beginning of summer. It has a very precise meaning in the language of flowers, and it's the return of happiness – so you can see that link to the idea of winter being behind us and summer coming.

It has an incredible fragrance - really beautiful, sweet, fragrance - and for that reason too, it's been associated with things like chastity and purity. It's a perfect wedding flower because it's so delicate and became a popular choice for brides thanks to the likes of Grace Kelly, Jackie O and Kate Middleton, who all used lily of the valley in their bouquets. It's also Christian Dior’s favourite flower, so that's a nice bit of trivia!

Rose

Up next is rose, and rose is the most incredible flower that again comes from its fragrance. Roses have this very strong, very attractive smell that people enjoy and it's a real trigger to well-being. It makes people feel better in themselves and almost creates a natural high, which is why it's traditionally been associated with love.

In ancient history it’s the flower of Venus and Aphrodite, the Greek and Roman goddesses of love, so it's always carried that romantic story to it in the language of flowers. But roses carry many different meanings and the colour of the rose can determine the meaning. A red rose symbolises passionate love, a white rose symbolises purity and innocence, A pink rose can symbolise gratitude and tenderness, and a yellow rose symbolises friendship and joy.

There's such a variety of rose perfume as well. Sometimes they can smell quite lemony, different varieties can smell kind of bit talc-y, but then you've got earthy smells, sweeter smells, and the rich rosy smells.

They've been bred into so many different varieties over the years, and they all been bred from the wild rose – we've got the little white ones and the little pink dog roses around the gallery. It's quite interesting; a bit like how wolves were bred into dogs, and how you can go from a wild dog and end up with a Great Dane – which is nearly the size of a person – or a Chihuahua. And yet they've both all got the same DNA.

Violets

Violets have a wonderful perfume, and they've got a beautiful, very delicate shape. But they're a tiny flower. They were really popular in the Victorian periods because they were easy to transport – people could make these tiny bunches of violets and sell them in the streets to people.

In the language of flowers, they symbolise honesty, protection, as well as innocence and modesty. Watts used them for their intended meaning in his portrait of Ellen Terry (Choosing). She's smelling the empty camellias, which have no smell, but in her hands are violets, and he's viewing the violets as the qualities that she should be embodying which are modesty and innocence.

Myrtle

For next one, I've chosen Myrtle. Myrtle isn't a plant that people necessarily know. It's quite an ordinary looking evergreen plant and it's a little bit tender, and we don't see it often. The word myrtle comes from myrrh – as in frankincense and myrrh. Myrrh has a very strong smell, kind of like a church incense, and myrtle also has a really rich, deep resonant smell.

In the language of flowers, myrtle means eternal love, and it also symbolises fidelity in marriage, so if you give somebody myrtle, it's almost the strongest message you can give of love. One of the stories I like about this plant is that Queen Victoria put myrtle in her wedding bouquet and cuttings were taken from her bouquet and a plant was grown from it. All the royal wedding bouquets since which have included myrtle, use cuttings linking to that particular plant, which is quite nice.

Sunflower

Sunflowers are native to the Americas, and they only came to Europe and Britain around the 17th century. In the language of flowers, they symbolise adoration and loyalty. It's such a boastful, big flower, which may be why it’s seen as a symbol of adoration, and the loyalty aspect could stem from its loyalty to the sun, because it turns and follows the sun across the sky.

There's an interesting link here with the aesthetic movement, particularly with William De Morgan. Around this time, sunflowers weren’t very popular. They were these big, gaudy flowers – and they are yellow, which was quite an undesirable colour. It can be seen as the colour of cowardice and kind of yucky, but the Aesthetic Movement brought a new way of looking at things – a more ‘punk’ way of looking at things. They embraced yellow as a colour and so the sunflower became a popular motif amongst the artists of the movement.

Lily

Another flower of the aesthetic movement was the Lily. There's actually lots of different kinds of Lily, but for our purposes, we'll stick to the Madonna lily type, which is Lilium candidum.

Lilies have an incredible history that goes back to the dawn of time. In Greek mythology it was said to have come from the breast milk of Hera, who was the queen of the gods. So the pure white flower is reflecting in her milk. They were also painted by the Minoans – an ancient civilization on the island of Crete – and they painted beautiful frescoes with flowers which quite clearly resemble lilies.

In the language of flowers, they have so many meanings – sometimes contradictory. Lilies can symbolise femininity, they can mean purity and modesty, love and romance, and they could even mean death and grief – so within that you've got it all going on. If ever there was a flower that could encompass human mood and sentiment, it’s the lily.