Teresa H. Sabankaya - The Posy Book: Garden-Inspired Bouquets That Tell a Story

T he greatest influence and inspiration for me to write this book came from a book. It was a book that I bought back in 1994, titled Tussie-MussiesThe Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in the Language of Flowers, written by Geraldine Adamich Laufer. I kept this book in my nightstand, and over the course of several years I would retrieve it and thumb through the pages. Looking at these pretty little nosegays made me feel so romantic, and so nostalgic for a long-ago time when folks were sentimental about things like nature and flowers. The idea that each of the flowers, plants, and herbs used in these tussie-mussies had a meaning attached to it captivated me. And each tussie had a line drawn from the flower, leaf, or herb with an explanation as to what kind of plant it was, and its definition in the language of flowers. This book made me realize that I see these flowers growing along the roadside all the time! The wild hazel growing along my country road had such powerful meanings: poetic inspiration, meditation, knowledge... and it made me wonder why on earth dont we use flowers to communicate our most intricate messages anymore?

Through the years, I have collected many books on the language of flowers and they have all inspired me each in their own way. Some are vintage, with very old pages tattered and worn from being thumbed through by countless hands. The bindings are soft and worn and the delicate pages hint of their long-gone gilt edges. These books take me back in time and I enjoy the feeling I get as I submerge myself into the forgotten world of coded floral messages. I feel the company of earlier owners as I hold each book gently, turning the pages ever so carefully. I wonder about the books now-departed owners; who were they? And were they as charmed by this mystical and magical language as I am? My gratitude is boundless to all those before me who have written about the language of flowers and floral symbolismthank you for influencing me to write this book.

I owe tremendous gratitude to Debra Prinzing, who is my friend and colleague. Debra is a writer, speaker, founder of Slow Flowers, and a leading advocate for American-grown flowers. In 2015, Debra was visiting me, staying in my little garden guesthouse. I had been thinking of writing a book about posies and the language of flowers for some time already, but I wanted her opinion on the idea. I made a sweet posy for her to test the waters, and I left it by her bedside in the little cottage, awaiting her arrival. The posy I gifted to Debra wasnt by any means the first posy I had ever created and gifted to someone, but it was the posy that would be the determining factor on whether I should pursue the book ideaor not! Well, Debra adored the posy, and she loved the idea of incorporating it into modern floral design, especially in a book.