Hands-on floristry workshops exploring the evolution of flower arrangement across cultures and centuries
Floristry evolved from ancient ceremonial practices into a sophisticated art form that shaped cultural expression across centuries. This program examines how floral design developed through distinct historical periods and geographical contexts.
Layout of medieval physic gardens, plant selection for dual purposes, manuscript illumination as botanical record, preservation of classical texts through copying
Development of Marian flower associations, feast day requirements, color symbolism in church decoration, regional variations in flower choice, connections to biblical interpretation
Medieval growing methods, seasonal planning for liturgical calendar, seed preservation, grafting and propagation, climate challenges in northern Europe
Walahfrid Strabo's Hortulus analysis, Hildegard von Bingen's botanical writings, Alexander Neckam's De Naturis Rerum, practical gardening manuals from Cistercian houses
Monasteries became botanical repositories after Rome's fall. Benedictine monks maintained physic gardens where they cultivated medicinal herbs alongside ornamental flowers, creating detailed manuscripts that preserved classical horticultural knowledge.
The Hortulus, written by Walahfrid Strabo around 840 CE, describes 24 plants grown at Reichenau Abbey. His observations blend practical cultivation advice with theological symbolism. White lilies represented purity and appeared in countless altar arrangements, while red roses symbolized martyrdom. These associations weren't arbitrary but developed through centuries of liturgical practice.
Cathedral gardens served multiple purposes. Canterbury's cloister garden, documented in 1165, supplied flowers for feast day decorations while providing contemplative space for monks. Gardeners followed strict seasonal calendars, timing plantings to ensure blooms for specific holy days. Easter required white flowers; Pentecost demanded red blooms.
Women in convents developed sophisticated arrangement techniques. The Abbess Hildegard von Bingen wrote extensively about flower properties in Physica, combining spiritual interpretation with botanical observation. Her work influenced both medical practice and decorative arts across German territories.
Medieval floristry wasn't about aesthetic pleasure alone. Every flower carried layered meanings understood by educated clergy and literate nobility. A single arrangement could reference biblical passages, saints' lives, and theological concepts simultaneously, creating visual sermons for illiterate congregations.