Mother’s Day – lets hear it for pink! By Sue Whale

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday as some prefer to call it) is fast approaching.

This is the busiest week in the florist’s year, an event almost bigger than Christmas and Valentine’s put together….

At work we are currently swimming in a sea of pink; pink cellophane, pink ribbon, even pink balloons! I know pink for Mother’s Day sounds a little clichéd, but then so does red for romance, blue for boys etc.

We deal with colour all the time as you can imagine it’s a major part of what we do and it’s interesting to discover how different people view different colours.

While we’re on the subject of colour, this is something for all the men out there who will be ordering flowers over the coming week. Unless you actually know it to be a fact, most women’s favourite colour scheme is not red and yellow. Really.

I tried my best to point this out to a customer recently when he rang up to order flowers for his wife’s birthday ‘would you like something bright and vibrant?’ I asked, ‘or perhaps more subtle, pastel shades?’

He thought for a moment and answered, ‘Bright I think, yes; reds, yellows and pinks’.

When I suggested that reds, pinks and creams might be a more suitable combination, he replied, sounding rather puzzled, ‘Why? Haven’t you got any yellow?’

I did try, honest.

And sticking with colour themes, and I’m afraid it’s back to you men again, not every room is brown. I say this because often we will ask the customer the decor of the room the flowers are going into to help choose an appropriate colour scheme.

The answer from most men, after some thought which makes me suspect it’s not something they’ve ever considered before, is invariably ‘brown’. Chaps, next time you order flowers have a quick look around the house – even at what your other half wears – and if it is brown, well then I take it all back!

So why pink for Mother’s Day? Pink has lots of feminine connotations, it is a quiet colour, associated with universal love, a pink carnation is supposed to symbolise ‘I will never forget you’, and a pink rose stands for friendship.

Interestingly, up until the 1920’s pink was actually considered to be more appropriate for boys as it stems from the colour red, which was seen to be masculine.

It wasn’t until the 1940’s that pink finally became a colour for girls.

A couple of random pink facts here – we’ve all heard of pink flamingos – but did you know that there is a pink iguana? Or that the Southeast Asian white elephant is actually a shade of soft pink?

To be quite honest though, I don’t really think that any mum would mind getting pink flowers, even if their favourite colour is blue because, you know what they say, it’s the thought that counts!

Astrantia by Tony Howell

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