Flower power and LGBT+ history

Throughout time, it’s easy to trace how flowers have taken on symbolic meaning for different cultures, religions and social groups.

The ancient Greeks associated roses with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, while the ancient Egyptians believed that the lotus represented rebirth and creation. 

The Victorians were particularly prolific with the meanings they assigned to flowers, developing an entire language – ‘floriography’ – which they used to communicate with each other. Giving someone a bouquet of flowers could convey all sorts of meanings depending on the specific flowers chosen, from love and devotion to remembrance and forgiveness. Some even had negative connotations – yellow carnations, for example, represented rejection and disappointment.

Across the Royal Parks you'll find many different flower colours, with our talented team growing half a million plants each year in the Hyde Park super nursery. Most of the Royal Parks have two displays each year - in spring and summer - with the colour and greenery in the flower beds being designed a year in advance.

The flower with perhaps the most ancient connection to LGBT+ communities is the violet. Famous poet Sappho, who lived in the 7th century BC, later became an icon for gay women. She mentioned violets frequently in her writings – describing, for example, the beauty of women with ‘crowns of violets’.

Particularly in the early 1900s, violets became a gift and symbol among communities of gay women. Many gay women in Europe who studied the works of Sappho wore violets on their clothes to signal their sexual identity.

Violets flower in the Royal Parks from April to June, and they can often be found in woods and hedgerows. As you walk through the woodland areas in Richmond Park and Bushy Park, keep your eyes peeled for a splash of purple this spring.

This spring, you can find colourful pansies within many horticultural displays across the Royal Parks. 

In the early 20th century, the word ‘pansy’ – alongside other flower terms like ‘daisy’ and ‘buttercup’ – was used to refer to gay men, with connotations of flamboyancy and effeminacy. 

The association between pansies and LGBT+ communities was heightened during the ‘Pansy Craze’ of the 1920s and 30s. During this time, in major cities like New York, the underground nightclub scene flourished – and at the centre were drag artists called ‘pansy performers’.

In spring, you'll find pansies featured in the round island beds of the Flower Garden in Greenwich Park – look out for them when they flower in March, April and May.