Blooming Flowers A Seasonal History of Plants and People by Kasia Boddy

256 Pages
Publisher: Yales University Press
Release Date: June 23, 2020

Nonfiction, Outdoors, Nature, Flowers, Plants, Botanical, Emotions

The book is divided into the following sections.

Spring: Daisy Daffodil Lily Carnation
Summer Rose Lotus Cotton Sunflower
Autumn Saffron Chrysanthemum Marigold Poppy
Winter Violet Snowdrop Almond
Literary Seeds and Sources

This book covers several plants for each season. Although I do not consider myself a spring person, two of my favorite flowers, lily and carnation, are included. The author does a good job detailing the different plants and their properties. If you enjoy gardening or like working with flowers, you may enjoy reading this book.

While this book doesn't fit my audience, it's a great book for personal reading. The stories that Kasia weaved throughout the book and the new knowledge of plants I learned definitely make this book one that I want to buy for personal enjoyment.

A fantastic exploration of twelve different flowers that have influenced the world. If you love flowers there's a lot to enjoy and learn from here.

A beautiful and fascinating book about flowers and what they mean both historically and in the present day. The symbolism of certain flowers was very interesting and certainly educated me more about the human connection to flowers. It's a book to pick up and read a chapter when you feel as though you need a little lift. A perfect coffee table book, and/or one for those who are avid nature lovers.
I received a digital copy of the book from NetGallery in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Roses symbolise love and sexuality. Lotuses symbolise purity. Carnations symbolise mothers’ love and has been a symbol of revolution, especially red carnations. 

Flowers, as we know, have different significance and meanings. This book seeks to explore the meanings behind selected flowers. With the large number of flora out in the world, it would be difficult to cover every single one of them. Blooming Flowers solves this by selecting just a few flowers and categorising them into the four seasons.

Although this book is centred around flowers in Europe and America, some of these flowers originated in the East, from countries like India and China. Blooming Flowers explores the different meanings of flowers drawn from many cultures and even ideas in a vast number of literature, including the likes of Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. By doing this, the book effectively explores the history of these flowers and what they symbolised in both fiction and reality. 

Flowers are strewn all over history, over prominent events, over religious and spiritual beliefs. As we are told in this book, flowers connect. They speak and communicate, but only with the meanings we have imposed on them.

This book was informative, and managed to keep it interesting throughout the book. Besides introducing the flowers and providing small illustrations to give an idea to the reader of what the flowers look like, related art or photographs were slipped in between all the information. This gives the book brief breaks between text and gives a clearer picture of what the author is describing. As a plus, it does make the book more aesthetically pleasing and more inviting to read.

I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about these flowers. Not about their structure specifically, but of the history and the significance of each individual flower. Of what makes them well-known and preserved in long-lasting literature, how their meanings can evolve with the times. As life and human thought thrives and changes, so will the importance of significance of these flowers.

What I liked

This was a well researched and well-illustrated history of flowers and other types of plants. I had it as an e-book but I would love to see the physical copy to experience all the pictures in the book better. I found that what the author chose to cover, she never seemed to speed through, and yet in spite of the fact that the book isn't super long, still she managed to cover quite a few topics. I also liked that it was broken up into seasons, according to what blooms when.

What I didn't like

So, in spite of the fact that the author took pains to talk about other parts of the world, the book still did end up feeling eurocentric to me. I guess we can chalk that up to information available to her as a British author and the fact that this book was primarily written for a eurocentric/western audience, but it did leave a bit to be desired. I also felt the writing could have been slightly more engaging in some parts. Most of it was quite interesting, but at points it felt like lists of facts were just being read out.

Overall

I think my 4* rating proves that overall I did enjoy this book a lot. I would recommend it to anyone who likes flowers, as I thought it was pretty interesting. She doesn't just talk about the plants themselves but also the impacts they've had on people and culture along the way.

This was ok. I really enjoyed the way Kasia Boddy focused on more than just an American perspective. I also quite enjoyed the quirky little facts (I'm one of those walking encyclopedias but stuck on the random setting) and the art included. However, the stories felt pretty disjointed. Some of the transitions were clunky and I would have loved a larger selection of flowers and more pictures to visualize them all.

Beautifully photographed wonderfully informative for all lovers of flowers grab this book.Full of interesting facts about flowers we love a delightful read.#netgalley#yaleu

A pretty and well researched into the world of flowers and their meanings to humans. I always love learning about the significance and meaning of flowers and this book explored it in a different, deeper way.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Great book for those who love to garden and like the history of flowers and plants.

A rather interesting read.
I believe it is safe to say that I have never read a book like this! The combination of flowers and the history of how each different one has been perceived is rather interesting!
I enjoyed the references to classic literature and works of art, it tied it all together.
I have not finished this book completely as I do find it quite a knowledge heavy, however the few chapters that I have read have been quite enjoyable! I'd recommend a strong coffee to drink alongside it rather than a herbal tea like myself, it will suit the overall vibe of the novel much better.
Thank you very much for the free review copy, I shall continue it someday!

This was a very interesting book about not only flowers but about their meanings, their history, and other things related to them. Filled with various facts and illustrations and photos, this was an interesting take on understanding flowers.

In this time of Covid, my  walks take me past two neighborhood parks.  Each day, no matter how tired I am of this time in our lives, seeing the flowers that are in bloom brings some cheer.  Because my walks have been daily, I think that I am more aware of each bloom that fades as others come forth during the spring and summer seasons.


Blooming Flowers is a title that plays homage to this bounty.  It is organized by seasons and filled with gorgeous illustrations.  So, for example, for spring there are the daisy, the daffodil, the lily and more, while for summer we see the rose and sunflower among others and so on through the snowdrop and violet in winter.


The author's love of all things floral shines through in this appealing title as does her deep knowledge of her subject.  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting body of information regarding flowers, history, and mythology. Its a BIG book so not something to be read in one shot. Perfect for someone who wants a resource about the history and cultural meaning behind specific flowers/plants. Not much in there about medicine from what I can tell so probably not the right resource for someone searching for that. But the author, Kasia Boddy, clearly knows a lot about the web of connectivity that these flowers have represented in our communities around the world. The posters and imagery are lovely, i think they would be beautiful to flip through in hardcover/print. I read this book in its digital version which makes it easy to search but would be a nice book to hold in your hand!!

Really lovely boof for nature and flower lovers. The pictures and descriptions were wonderful and eye-catching.
I definitely enjoyed my time with it and I'd buy a hardcover copy for sure.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Blooming Flowers cycles through the seasons, discussing the cultural significance and history of 16 commonly encountered flowers.

Flowers have such significance in symbolism, art, culture, and medicine. How many times have we heard cliched associations between a woman and/or her sexuality, and various forms of roses/daisies etc? Why is the Lily associated with Easter when it is a summer flower? Rarely do we stop and think about where these associations originated. Blooming Flowers looks at 16 common flowers in a comprehensive discussion on their cultural history from philosophy to mythology, art, literature, political campaigns, and science. It also discusses seasonality, and how this can vary based on where someone is in the world and their cultural upbringing.

There is a huge breadth of knowledge and variety of sources covered in this book. Artists, authors, historical figures, and mythological characters from Ovid to Tennyson, D.H. Lawrence to Ali Smith, Georgia O’Keeffe, to Salvador Dali, to Vincent Van Gogh, Thomas Fairchild, Persephone, and so many more, are referenced. Each section flows from one point to another in a coherent train of thought. There were things I knew, as well as new facts, in a context that was enjoyable to read. I loved how varied the content of this book is. It’s clearly written by someone who has not just researched for the purposes of the book, but is well read and draws links between the different areas.

This is a book best dipped in and out of. I read it in an afternoon—it’s not particularly long in length—but with prose which slips between fact and detail, I think this is best absorbed and thought on more slowly. Split into 5 main sections (introduction, spring, summer, autumn, winter), and each season further split into four sections (one for each flower), it is easy to pause and pick up later. Illustrations, historical posters, and paintings complement the text, and I imagine that this is a beautiful hardcover book.

Blooming Flowers is an interesting read which is equally not too bogged down with excessive facts. The tangents of discussion for each flower are clear in direction. I would like to have read more about the mythological associations and historical medical uses of plants, but with so much to cover, it would have been an extremely heavy book if all avenues were explored to their fullest extent! This is where narrowing it down to only 16 flowers paid off, as a good amount of discussion could be included on each.

This is a reference book of breadth rather than depth, and it is ideal for someone wanting to learn a little about lots of things (related to flowers). The bibliography is a good place to look for further reading on topics which have piqued interest. The most interesting or relevant topics for each flower are explored in greater depth, for example the section on poppies discusses the red corn poppy symbolism related to the First World War and Remembrance Day, and opiates, while also including lesser known quotes and facts. I chose poppy as an example, but many of the other flowers have less obvious associations.

Overall, Blooming Flowers is an informative starting point for someone who wants to learn more about the history of flowers, and why they are culturally significant and perceived the way they are. The hard cover book would make a great gift.

Thank you to Yale University Press and NetGalley for providing an Advance Review Copy, which I have reviewed voluntarily and based on my unbiased opinion.

I really enjoyed the way that this book approached the seasons and the changing of the flowers that make themselves apparent throughout, and there was certainly some really interesting material regarding the meaning of the flowers and their cultural impact through the decades. The illustrations and selected historical materials were beautiful, and it was quite the experience to see something so gorgeously put together. The passion here for the botanical world was very evident, and this is the perfect light nature book to pick up and read, especially if you're not overly interested in the more scientific side of things!

I did think, however, that it was a bit disjointed, and sometimes the movement from one section to the next felt a little clunky. The fact that there weren't more flowers that were looked at as well made me a little sad- I wanted to know more and see a far wider selection than what was there!

This book is fascinating, it's interesting to think about what flowers mean in human culture. This book touches on all possible topics: sociology, culture, art, medicine, etc.

Flowers accompany us at funerals, but also to celebrate life. They appear in the most beautiful fields and also among the crevices of large cities.

There are flowers for lovers, for friends, family, children, grandparents; we use flowers to wish (he loves me, he loves me not). It's an element full of meanings. I loved reading about all these reflections.

As an avid lover of flowers and watcher of the seasons, I enjoyed this book and the many tidbits of floral information found within! While this book strikes me as less of the sort one would sit down and read from cover to cover and more the kind that one would dip into now and then, I particularly appreciated the author's choice to divide her studies of each plant based on the season most commonly associated with it - and to consider the varying implications and history of that season depending upon one's geographical location.

I learned a great deal here, especially when it came to symbolism and the history of each individual bloom, though I would have loved if there had been a greater focus on the mythology surrounding each plant (there are some references to Ovid, the Odyssey, and the Persephone myth that would have been wonderful if expanded) and if the author had taken the opportunity to explore the Wars of the Roses in the segment dedicated to roses.

The cover of the book is misleading as it (not to judge a book by the cover) leads the reader to imagine there will be many colourful and exciting pictures of flowers within. The text was interesting but I found the pictures bland and disappointing.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review