Have you ever witnessed, let alone seen a wedding with black flowers as the central theme? This may be unheard of a few years ago, but today in many places black weddings are becoming the norm, not the exception.
Before we start discussing about weddings, let's first see how the black flowers that we know, came into being. It began not long ago when flower experts announced that there were no pure black flowers in nature; it ended when another authority on flowers, the Dutch Frank Roozen, declared: "No living leaf or flower is truly black".
Facing a blank wall, florists the world over pondered over their situation. How could they meet the ever-increasing demand for black flowers by their customers? Where would they get these type of flowers to fill their orders? They didn't have to look far for the answer: hybridization.
Hybridizers have practically spent centuries to develop and produce black versions of common flowers. The black rose, black tulip, black carnation, and the black lily are the most popular types of the black flowers cross-bred from other flower varieties. And these flowers are working overtime to fill the bulk of the worldwide demand for black flowers.
Not only that. With the latest techniques in hybridization being developed, flower scientists have even gone further. Several companies engaged in flower development (among them Breck's, Select Seeds and White Flower Farm) have come up with other varieties of flowers that - though not pure black - are nearly black. Among the varieties now out in the market are "Black Stockings", "Landini Lily" (a nearly black Asiatic lily), "Bowles Black" and the Coleus "Black Magic."
On the business side of things, black flowers seem to be celebrating the sweet smell of success. This brings us back to the subject of weddings.
So when was the last time you were invited to a black wedding? Yes, we hear about Gothic weddings - those weddings held in graveyards or ancient castles or old buildings, with black and red as dominating colors - once in a while. But actually we only read about them in glossy magazines and feature stories. In most cultures people tend to shift to other subjects when the black color is associated with weddings. And why not? Black is the color of death, grief, and sadness - as opposed to life, joy and celebration! It may represent elegance and power, yet it also symbolizes departure and mourning. Some black flowers, like the black rose, may represent strength and devotion, but the same flower speaks of tragic love and death, even revenge.
Still, nowadays black weddings are held in practically every major city in the world. Modern brides have never been more daring in their choice of wedding colors. They want to make a statement, and there is no better occasion to express it than in a ceremony set in a rare, although strange, atmosphere, with nothing but black flowers watching in the background - lilies, orchids, callas, magic roses.
How times have changed. Like magic.
Find out more about flowers in our Black Flowers guide.
This article is Copyrighted to Ioana Iacob - Online Flowers Guide.
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