Floriography, by Gina Margolies

Happy Birthday to all our beloved April babies! Your Birthday Blossom is the adorable daisy, carrying a message of happiness, loyal friendship and, of course, springtime. Spring has not quite sprung here at Birthday Blossoms HQ, but it’s close. The cold streak of winter has been interrupted here and there, by a day last week when it was only slightly chilly, two days in a row when it was warm in the sun, and day before yesterday it reached seventy degrees for a few fleeting moments in the late afternoon. Spring in a technical sense is just about to meet...

We’re almost there! That sentence expresses how I feel every year, right about this time. March is a gateway to the glories of spring. Sure it can be cold and windy in March. In New York City, we can see snow. But we also see glimmerings, beckonings, whispering beautiful words. Spring is just around the corner. As I write this post, the official start of spring is two days away. But the whisperings started a few weeks ago, on those days when it was cold with moments when it wasn’t. Walking into a sunny spot and feeling the rays on...

It has been a cold, snowy winter at Birthday Blossoms HQ in New York City. Hot beverages have been sipped, warm sweaters worn on repeat, and the icy winds have us scurrying through the streets head down, wishing for spring. The one thing getting us through – an office full of flowers, of course. As I write this, I am surrounded by flower totes, prints, and pillows, as well as sketches for a new line of designs. These Birthday Blossoms bring warm thoughts of flowers to come. I can almost hear them telling me to hang on, spring is just...

Happy July 1st!  July’s Birth Month Flower is the larkspur, also called delphinium. Interesting facts about larkspur: The juice of the larkspur flower mixed with alum makes blue ink. Larkspur is toxic to humans, especially the seeds. The word “delphinium" derives from the Greek word for “dolphin” due to the dolphin-shaped flowers.  

We are at that time of year when, in many parts of the country, the long stretch of post-holiday winter has settled in. Icy winds greet us when we venture out in the morning, and early sunsets send us hurrying home in the evening. Thoughts turn to words like cold, dark, and bleak, and we long for warm blankets, cozy sweaters, and hot drinks to comfort us.  Flowers are not generally associated with this time of year, for obvious reasons. Just when we need their warm colors and sun-kissed leaves the most, flowers are nowhere to be found. In the...