I'm considering writing a novel about a gay gardener servant x nobleman during either the US Gilded Age or England's Victorian Era. Do you have any books you can recommend on for me for the language of flowers or for local flowers during those times? Thank you very much!
Hi alexanderthemediocre!
As the Gilded Age (1870~1900) falls directly within the Victorian era (1837-1901) it’s reasonable to presume that the meanings carried over and were similar or even the same. Here’s a list of books for Victorian flower language for you to use or mention. Never mind the dates, unless you want to be extra accurate.
Wirt 1831
Shoberl 1839
Waterman 1840
Edgarton Mayo 1843
The Flowers Personified 1847
Dumont 1853
Language and Sentiment 1866
Tyas 1869
Greenaway 1884
Diffenbaugh 2011
The Victorian Bazaar
You can find their contents here on this chart.
All of these books are of your interest, despite the date on some. Robert Tyas (1869) and Edgarton Mayo (1843) can also be found through these links.
As for the local flowers, I can’t help you, unfortunately. For one because we know next to nothing about the climate during those time periods, as well as that we need a location, to begin with. That being said, chances are that what’s local now was also local back when. However, this excludes cultivated plants to some extent, namely all those which hadn’t already been developed. A lot of these plants will be hybrids, which are usually fairly easy to spot in name if you can come up with the latin one. Most of the time they will have an x in the middle of it, or seldom mention the word hybrid. This sort of also includes plants of the variety Cultivars, which however will grant you a little leeway because the s is only ever added when nobody can tell anymore how many strains were merged into the one at hand. Definitely more than two.
I hope this helps!
– Mod Jana
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