The Meaning Behind Our Flowers
Every flower in our field carries a story — and understanding flower meanings makes picking them even more fun. Some go back thousands of years — to Greek mythology, Aztec temples, Victorian love letters, and Mexican celebrations of the dead. Here’s what you’re really taking home when you pick your own flowers at Carrigan Farms.
Zinnia Flower Meaning — Endurance & Lasting Affection
In Victorian flower language, handing someone a zinnia meant “thinking of an absent friend.” They earned this meaning honestly — zinnias bloom relentlessly through the worst of summer heat, enduring conditions that wilt everything else in the field.
The flower is named after Johann Gottfried Zinn, a German botanist who first described them in the 1700s. But zinnias are native to Mexico, where the Aztecs were decidedly unimpressed — they called them mal de ojos, which translates roughly to “eyesore.” It wasn’t until European plant breeders spent decades developing the massive, densely-petaled double blooms we grow today that zinnias went from roadside weed to garden royalty.
When you cut a zinnia at the farm, you’re carrying home a flower that means I haven’t forgotten you — and one that will outlast almost everything else in your vase.
Sunflowers — Adoration & Loyalty
The Greek myth of Clytie tells of a water nymph who fell hopelessly in love with Apollo, the sun god. She sat on a rock for nine days watching him pull the sun across the sky, refusing to eat or drink, until the gods took pity and transformed her into a sunflower — forever turning her face toward the sun.
That myth gave sunflowers their lasting association with adoration, loyalty, and unwavering devotion. But the real history runs even deeper. Indigenous peoples across the Americas cultivated sunflowers for more than 4,000 years as a food source — seeds, oil, dye, and medicine — long before anyone grew them for beauty. The Incas of Peru used golden sunflowers as symbols of their sun god, Inti, and priestesses wore sunflower-shaped gold discs during ceremonies.
In Chinese culture, sunflowers represent good fortune, vitality, and long life. In modern Western culture, they’re associated with happiness and optimism — which is hard to argue with when you’re standing in a row of them and they’re taller than you are.
Cosmos — Order & Harmony
When Spanish explorers brought cosmos seeds back from Mexico to Madrid in the late 1700s, Spanish priests at the Royal Botanical Gardens were struck by the perfect symmetry of the petals — evenly spaced, balanced, almost mathematical in their arrangement. They named the flower cosmos, from the Greek word kosmos, meaning “ordered universe” — because the bloom seemed to reflect the harmony and divine order of creation itself.
In Victorian flower language, cosmos symbolized modesty and joy in love and in walking. They were the flower you gave to someone to say “let’s just enjoy this moment together.” Native to the meadows and hillsides of Mexico and Central America, cosmos are one of the easiest wildflowers to grow — which only adds to their symbolism of effortless, natural beauty. It’s one of the most poetic flower meanings in the field.
Celosia — Boldness & Warmth
The name celosia comes from the Greek word keleos, meaning burning — because the plume-shaped blooms look like flames rising from the stem. The crested varieties look less like fire and more like brain coral or a rooster’s comb, which is why they’re sometimes called cockscomb.
In West African cultures, celosia is much more than ornamental. The leaves are a staple food crop, cooked and eaten like spinach, and the flowers are associated with vitality, abundance, and celebration. In Chinese traditions, the cockscomb variety symbolizes good fortune. In Victorian flower language, celosia carried a lighter meaning — “humor” or “don’t be silly” — a playful flower given to someone who was taking themselves too seriously.
It’s fitting. Celosia is the flower in the field that makes people stop and say what IS that? It doesn’t look like anything else, and it doesn’t try to.
Amaranth — Immortality & Unfading Love
The word amaranth comes from the Greek amarantos — literally, “unfading.” The name was earned: amaranth flowers hold their deep crimson color even after drying, as if refusing to let go. In Greek mythology, amaranth was sacred to Artemis and was said to bloom on Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. Aesop included it in his fables. Milton wrote it into Paradise Lost, placing amaranth flowers beside the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.
But the deepest history belongs to the Americas. The Aztecs cultivated amaranth as one of their most important crops — on par with corn and beans — and used it in sacred religious ceremonies. They mixed amaranth seeds with honey and sometimes blood to form small figures of gods, which were eaten during festivals. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived, they recognized the plant’s spiritual significance and banned its cultivation in an attempt to crush indigenous religion. The crop nearly disappeared. It has since been revived and is now recognized as one of the most nutritious grains on earth. Of all the flower meanings in our field, this one runs the deepest.
When a stem of amaranth drapes over the edge of your vase like a velvet curtain, it’s carrying 8,000 years of human history with it.
Marigold Flower Meaning — Remembrance & Celebration of the Dead
No flower on earth is more closely tied to death — and more joyful about it — than the marigold.
In Mexico, marigolds are the defining flower of Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, celebrated every year on November 1st and 2nd. The Aztecs called marigolds cempasúchil — the “flower of the dead” — and believed their vivid orange color and powerful scent could guide the spirits of deceased loved ones back to the world of the living. During the holiday, families scatter marigold petals in trails leading from cemeteries to home altars, creating a fragrant golden path for the dead to follow.
In Hindu culture, marigolds are sacred and appear in nearly every religious ceremony — draped over temple doorways, woven into garlands for weddings, and offered to gods as symbols of the sun and positive energy. India is the world’s largest producer of marigolds, growing more than a million tons per year, almost entirely for religious and ceremonial use.
In Victorian England, the meaning shifted — marigolds symbolized grief, jealousy, and the pain of lost love. A darker reading, but rooted in the same truth: this is a flower that forces you to feel something.
One more twist of history: the “African” marigolds in our field aren’t actually from Africa. They originated in the Americas, were taken to North Africa by Spanish traders, and were later reintroduced to Europe — where they picked up the name that stuck.
They’re also edible. The petals taste faintly of citrus and spice.
Gomphrena — Unchanging Love
Gomphrena earned its symbolism the honest way: the blooms simply refuse to fade. Cut them, dry them, leave them on a shelf for six months — the color holds almost perfectly. In an age before refrigeration and flower preservatives, that permanence meant something.
In Victorian flower language, gomphrena represented unfading affection — love that doesn’t diminish with distance or time. They’re sometimes called “bachelor buttons” (a name shared with several flowers) because the tight, round blooms could survive pinned to a bachelor’s buttonhole all day without wilting.
In Brazilian folk medicine, gomphrena flowers were brewed into teas believed to ease coughs and respiratory ailments. In modern floristry, they’re prized for dried arrangements and wreaths — a flower that keeps giving long after everything else in the vase has gone.
China Asters — Patience & Afterthought
The name aster comes from the Greek word for star — a reference to the star-shaped blooms that radiate outward from the center like points of light. In Greek mythology, asters were created from the tears of the goddess Astraea, who wept when she looked down from the heavens and saw that there were no stars on earth.
In Victorian flower language, asters carried a bittersweet meaning: “I will think of you” — or more precisely, “I wish I had said something sooner.” They were the flower of afterthought and reflection, given when you realized too late what someone meant to you.
In Chinese culture, asters symbolize fidelity and devotion. In France, they were placed on the graves of fallen soldiers — a quiet wish that things had gone differently.
China asters are the last of our nine types to bloom in the field, appearing in late summer when the season is already turning. There’s something fitting about that.
Snapdragons — Grace, Strength & a Little Magic
The name says it all: squeeze the sides of a snapdragon bloom and the flower opens like a dragon’s mouth, then snaps shut when you let go. It’s the first thing kids discover in the field, and it never stops being satisfying.
In medieval Europe, people believed snapdragons had genuine magical properties — that they could ward off curses and evil spirits. Women who wore them were thought to appear more graceful and alluring. Hanging them above a doorway was supposed to protect a home from deception.
In Victorian flower language, snapdragons carried a dual meaning. Given freely, they symbolized graciousness and inner strength. Received unexpectedly, they meant deception or presumption — a flower with teeth. The Romans had a simpler take: they believed snapdragons protected travelers and brought safe passage on journeys.
Our snapdragons are the first flowers of the season, blooming in the cool days of April and May before the summer heat arrives. They’re fleeting — and that’s part of what makes them worth the trip.
Every flower in our field has a reason it ended up there. Some we chose for color. Some for vase life. Some because they dry beautifully or bloom when nothing else will. But all of them carry something deeper — a thread of meaning that stretches back centuries. When you walk the rows and fill your cup, you’re not just picking flowers. You’re picking up a little piece of human history — and now you know the flower meanings behind every stem.
Ready to pick your own? Visit our Flower Picking page for hours, pricing, and reservations.
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Strawberry picking begins in mid-April. Open swim begins in late May and is available all summer. Apple picking begins in September. The pumpkin patch and haunted trail are open in October and we are currently taking reservations for weddings, company picnics and private events.