The Story of Flowers: And How They Changed the Way We Live

by Noel Kingsbury

Overview

Throughout history flowers have been an integral part of human survival and culture – as food, for medicine, to express feelings, as symbols, to commemorate and celebrate, and to decorate. Their shapes, colours, scents and textures have always attracted us, as they do animals and insects. Flowers are used as luxury spices (saffron), and as colouring and flavouring agents – marigolds fed to chickens make eggs more yellow and lavender was Elizabeth I’s favourite flavour of jam. Flowers are full of symbolic meaning: violets represent modesty, daises purity and daffodils unrequited love. And they have always played an important role in culture through myths and legends, literature and the decorative arts. This delightful new book brings together 100 of the world’s flowers to tell their remarkable stories. Each flower is richly illustrated in colour and accompanied by facts about each species and what role it has played in our culture and history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399614474
Publisher:	Orion
Publication date:	03/02/2023
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	141 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dr Noel Kingsbury is an internationally known writer on horticulture and has contributed to The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The New York Times. His many books include Natural Garden Style (2009), Daffodil: The Remarkable Story of the World's Most Popular Spring Flower (2013) and Garden Flora (2016).

Editorial Reviews

01/09/2023

Horticulturalist Kingsbury (Wild) comes up short in his efforts to tell the stories of “one hundred flowers as they came into our gardens.” Profiling and providing brief cultural histories of various flower species, he notes that Communists used carnations to represent the socialist movement and that Christians adopted the white “Madonna lily” to stand for purity. National symbolism, Kingsbury writes, is rife with flowers such as the iris, which, signified by the fleur-de-lis, came to represent France after fifth-century king Clovis used it as his emblem. There’s some amusing trivia—it’s possible to get a “slight buzz” from eating too much saffron, and oleander is toxic enough that “using the long, straight twigs for barbecuing meat has been a route to death more than once”—but the facts feel disconnected from any overarching analysis and are short on insight, failing to deliver on the subtitle’s promise to reveal how flowers have changed human society. Day’s illustrations are easily the highlight of this outing and offer vivid full-page depictions of each species. Green-thumbed readers might find a few tidbits of interest but will largely come away disappointed. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"No matter the season, flower enthusiasts will enjoy Kingsbury's quirky commentary and artist Charlotte Day's striking illustrations." –Booklist

"If you grow flowers, love flowers, or know what flowers are, you should get this book and read more about them." - The Gardenangelists' Podcast Newsletter

From the Publisher