As with roses, the dark red carnation signifies deep love and affection.

White carnations are said to represent purity and pure love, as well as thank you and good luck. This makes them a great choice for wedding arrangements as well as a special bouquet for somebody going on a trip or perhaps moving away. They’re also a great choice to use if you want to create an arrangement to say thank you to somebody.

Pink Carnations are traditionally given on Mother’s Day as they symbolize a mother’s or sister’s love.

Purple carnations are not as readily available as their red and white counterparts and symbolize a sense of whimsy or capriciousness.

Yellow carnations, unlike their rose counterparts that mean friendship, are actually a flower that means rejection or disdain. And like the purple carnation, are not as easy to find.

Red Roses–We all know that those gorgeous red roses signify deep love and romance. They’ve been identified with these feelings for centuries and are the most recognized symbol of love world wide. These days, roses are available in a wide variety of colors and with it, a wide variety of meanings in the language of flowers.

Pink Roses–The pink rose has been around maybe even longer than the red rose. Pink was and still is the dominate color for wild roses so naturally it appeared first as roses began to be cultivated. Pink Roses have a couple of different meanings. Love of course, but giving somebody pink roses can also mean gratitude and appreciation.

Yellow Roses–These lovely beauties have not been around as long as their red and pink counterparts and owe a great deal to cross breeding which gave this lovely rose it’s fabulous scent. Yellow roses are most popularly associated with Friendship, but they also mean Joy and are the perfect flower to send to somebody when you want to express Get Well wishes.

White Roses–What better flower to represent Purity and Innocence than the white rose. White roses are also known as the bridal rose and is classified as a traditional wedding flower because they also mean Unity, Virtue and the bond of New Love.

Orange Roses–This vibrantly colored rose is fast becoming a big contender against the Red Rose for Valentine’s Day. Orange Roses represent Desire, Enthusiasm and Passion, making them an excellent choice to give your sweetheart. They range in color from the palest peach to the deepest coral.

Lavender Roses–This rare bloom has a long history dating back to the Old Garden Roses. Modern hybridization has created additional varieties of lavender roses with the long stemmed rose being the one most used in arrangements. Lavender roses represent enchantment, Majesty and Love at First Sight.

Depending on the color, the Iris can convey all sorts of different meanings, from the blue which stand for faith and hope to the yellow that symbolize passion. White Iris represent purity and the flower itself expresses admiration, making it a perfect choice as a Valentine’s floral arrangement as well as for any Valentine bride.  The delicate and lacy blooms create beautiful and romantic bouquets.

Iris come in many forms and two distinct types, bearded and non bearded. The Bearded Iris varieties include Miniature Dwarf, Dwarf, Intermediate, Border Miniature Tall and Tall. The Non-Bearded Iris varieties include Siberian, Japanese, Louisiana, Dutch, Yellow Flag and Blue Flag.

Waxflower makes a great addition to any arrangement or bouquet.  Available year round, each stem of the waxflower has several small blooms on a woody stem. They are available in white, off white, various shades of pink and even lavender.  To make sure that your waxflowers will be at their peak fresheness, plan on getting them a day or so before your event.   Because this is a woody stem plant, you need to make sure that you cut it using the right tools so that you do not damage the stem which would prevent the flower from being able to draw water up. And as with all flowers that you are using for your arrangements, you will need to soak them in a water bath overnight.

This lovely filler flower has a great vase life, up to 8-9 days so it’s a great choice for any arrangement that you would like to have last a long time.

And if you are planning to include red and/or white roses in your Valentine’s Day wedding, please make sure that you get them ordered early. Not only are roses the traditional icon of Valentine’s day, they are typically considered the traditional choice of a Valentine’s bride. This time of year, red and white roses in particular are not only much more expensive, but also a little hard to get a hold of in large quantities. One really good way to stretch your flower budget is to also include carnations of the same color as the base of either bouquets or arrangements. Their tightly packed blooms not only hold a great shape, but also allow you to use less roses and still achieve the same effect.

I wanted to share with you some reception centerpieces I have created using Lisianthus. The centerpiece to the left was creating using purple lisianthus for a wedding where the colors were purple and green.

This next one was also used purple lisianthus. This bride had a very brillantly colored wedding which included reds, oranges, yellows, purples and blues.

And if you are looking to create your own arrangement, you can check out our sister site, Flower Arranging 101 where I have several wonderful arrangement videos including lisianthus. Check out this preview of one of my favorites.

Gerbera daisy color varations are almost endless with the exception of blue and violet blue hues. The petal colors include white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, lilac, purple, red, brown, salmon, bicolor and multicolor. And recently, even green Gerbera daisies are now available. The center disc can be yellow, green, brown, black or dark red.

Gerbera daisies come in three different sizes, miniature which measure 2-3 inches in diameter, standard which are 3-5 inches in diameter and giant which are 5-6 inches in diameter. The blooms themselves have five different variations, singles, doubles, crested doubles, full crested doubles and quill crested doubles or spider. With so many options in color and style, this lovely flower perfect for use in almost any arrangement or centerpiece.

Usually associated with the holiday season, these attractive decorations are usually made with springs of boxwood or other greenery. One of the easiest ways to create one is to actually start with a potato! Not only will it give you a firm base to insert your greenery and other ornamentation, but the moisture in the potato will help keep everything fresh. Once you have gotten your greenery arranged in an attractive ball shape, it’s ready to be decorated. You can then chose to go with the traditional holiday sprigs if Mistletoe and berries or use flowers to match your wedding and reception decor. You could even sparkle with strings of beads and the very popular jeweled ribbons, giving this traditional decoration a modern update.

You can even create them out of silk greenery and flowers so that you have a permanent keepsake of your wedding day. You can find any number of floral foam balls at your local craft store in a wide variety of sizes.

Take a look at the picture to the left. I used an artificial garland on my dining room table. All I added to the garland were bows and fairies.

You could also add silk flowers to garlands. And, remember I’ve told you before that you can take your aged green hydrangeas cut right from your bushes and insert them into the garlands, trees and wreaths. You can also add berries, holly, even pine cones for great color and texture.

The bows I used in this garland I have been using for the past three years. I just store them away at the end of the holiday and bring them back out when I need them again. They need to be fluffed a bit after being in storage, but as long as you use wired ribbon, you can store them and reuse them for years to come. I also used four different ribbons in these bows. A 2 1/2 inch green, a 1 1/2 inch purple, a 1 1/2 inch burgundy and a gold cording….all wired!

There is a single variety – fewer petals and resembles a tulip and doubles which have bigger petal counts and often are mistaken by the consumer as a garden rose. Lisianthus have great looking buds that add a fabulous texture to any bouquet or arrangement.

The purple lisianthus is one of the best purple flowers available, in my opinion.

These are particularly long lasting flowers- expect 7-14 days of enjoyment, depending upon how you are maintaining them. A bloom will last about 7 days with the larger buds opening into blooms, but often a little lighter shade than the main flowers.