The Origins of “Florist” and the Flower-Selling Profession

Etymology of “Florist”

The word “florist” has its roots in Latin, traveling through French before entering English. It derives from the Latin word flora, meaning “flower” or referring to Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring. The term moved into French as fleuriste in the 17th century, referring to someone who cultivated or sold flowers.

English adopted “florist” in the late 17th century, initially with a somewhat different meaning than today. The earliest English usage around the 1620s-1650s referred to a cultivator of flowers, particularly someone who grew flowers for their beauty rather than utility. These early florists were often gentlemen gardeners or botanical enthusiasts who specialized in ornamental horticulture, especially the cultivation of prized specimens like tulips, auriculas, and carnations.

By the 18th century, the meaning expanded to include those who professionally sold flowers, though the association with refined cultivation remained strong. The modern commercial sense of florist as primarily a flower seller and arranger became standard in the 19th century.

Ancient Flower Traditions Across Cultures

Ancient Egypt: Sacred Flower Specialists

The ancient Egyptians developed one of the earliest sophisticated relationships with flowers, creating what may be the world’s first specialized flower professions. Flowers held profound symbolic and religious significance in Egyptian culture. The blue lotus was particularly sacred, associated with rebirth and the sun god Ra. Temple priests and dedicated servants cultivated flowers specifically for religious ceremonies, creating elaborate floral collars, garlands, and offerings.

Archaeological evidence from tomb paintings and physical remains shows that professional garland-makers existed as a distinct occupation. These artisans created intricate floral collars worn by the deceased and mourners during funeral rites. The craftsmanship required to weave flowers, leaves, and petals into complex patterns suggests years of specialized training. Flowers like lotus, cornflower, poppy, and mandrake were cultivated in temple gardens and private estates specifically for this purpose.

The Valley of the Nobles tombs contain detailed depictions of servants presenting elaborate floral arrangements to nobility, indicating a class of workers dedicated to flower preparation. While we cannot definitively call these individuals “florists” in the modern sense, they performed remarkably similar functions within their cultural context.

Ancient Greece: Garland Weavers and Crown Makers

In ancient Greece, flowers played essential roles in religious festivals, athletic competitions, and daily life. Professional garland-makers, known as stephanopōlai (crown sellers), operated in marketplaces throughout Greek city-states. These craftspeople created woven crowns and garlands from flowers, leaves, and branches for various occasions.

Victorious athletes at the Olympic Games received crowns of wild olive, while other Panhellenic games awarded crowns of laurel, pine, or parsley. Professional crown-makers prepared these ceremonial wreaths. Beyond athletics, Greeks wore floral crowns during symposia (drinking parties), religious processions, and weddings. The demand was sufficient to support dedicated artisans who understood which flowers held appropriate symbolism for different occasions.

Roses, violets, hyacinths, narcissus, and lilies were popular choices. The Greeks also pioneered early techniques for extending flower life, including keeping stems in water and selecting flowers at optimal stages of bloom. These practical skills passed from master to apprentice, creating an informal guild system.

Ancient Rome: The Sophisticated Flower Trade

Rome developed perhaps the most commercially advanced flower industry of the ancient world. The Romans’ passion for roses, in particular, created a thriving trade network. Wealthy Romans demanded fresh flowers year-round for banquets, religious ceremonies, and personal adornment. They wore floral crowns to ward off the effects of wine and scattered rose petals on floors, couches, and even in their baths.

Professional flower sellers, coronarii, operated stalls in Roman markets and near temples. These vendors specialized in providing fresh flowers and ready-made garlands. The demand was so intense that Romans imported roses from Egypt during winter months, shipped across the Mediterranean. Some Roman estates in warmer regions specialized in rose cultivation specifically for the urban markets, representing an early form of commercial floriculture.

Pliny the Elder documented various aspects of the Roman flower trade in his encyclopedic Natural History, describing cultivation techniques, preferred varieties, and the economics of flower commerce. He noted that some growers forced roses to bloom early using heated greenhouses—an ancient precursor to modern greenhouse forcing.

The city of Paestum in southern Italy became famous for its roses, which bloomed twice yearly. This regional specialization mirrors modern flower-growing regions and suggests a sophisticated understanding of climate and cultivation.

Ancient China: Imperial Garden Keepers and Flower Arrangers

China developed its own rich tradition of flower cultivation and arrangement, distinct from Western practices. During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) and continuing through subsequent dynasties, imperial gardens employed specialized keepers responsible for cultivating ornamental plants and flowers. These weren’t merely gardeners but educated individuals who understood botanical principles, aesthetics, and the symbolic meanings of different plants.

The Chinese tradition of penjing (the precursor to Japanese bonsai) and flower arrangement emerged during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE). Scholar-officials and educated elites practiced flower arrangement as a refined art, but professional practitioners also existed to serve temples, palaces, and wealthy households. These specialists understood principles of balance, harmony, and seasonal appropriateness that governed proper floral display.

Peonies, chrysanthemums, lotus, plum blossoms, and orchids held particular significance in Chinese culture. Each flower carried symbolic weight—the plum blossom represented resilience, the peony wealth and honor, the chrysanthemum longevity. Professional flower arrangers needed deep knowledge of this symbolic language.

By the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), flower markets operated in major cities, selling cut flowers, potted plants, and flowering branches. These markets employed sellers who specialized in particular types of flowers or served specific clientele. The sophistication of Chinese flower culture influenced neighboring countries, particularly Japan and Korea.

Japan: The Evolution of Ikebana Masters

Japan transformed flower arrangement into a highly codified art form called ikebana (literally “living flowers”). While the practice has Buddhist origins dating to the 6th century, it developed into distinct schools and professional traditions by the 15th century.

The Ikenobo school, founded in the 15th century, established the first formal system of flower arrangement instruction. Practitioners underwent years of training to master the philosophical and aesthetic principles underlying ikebana. Unlike Western floristry, which often emphasizes abundance and color, ikebana focuses on minimalism, line, form, and the relationship between flowers, stems, and container.

Professional ikebana masters served temples, noble households, and later, the merchant class. They didn’t merely arrange flowers but embodied spiritual and aesthetic principles. The profession required understanding seasonal associations, symbolic meanings, and complex rules governing proper composition.

By the Edo period (1603-1868), multiple ikebana schools competed for students and patronage. Masters achieved celebrity status, and their styles influenced broader Japanese aesthetics. This professionalization of flower arrangement as a spiritual and artistic practice represents a unique cultural development, distinct from the commercial floristry that emerged in the West.

Islamic World: Garden Culture and Rose Water Distillers

The Islamic world developed a sophisticated appreciation for gardens and flowers, though the professional structure differed from Western floristry. Persian garden design, which influenced Islamic gardens from Spain to India, created demand for specialists in ornamental horticulture.

Roses held particular importance in Islamic culture, valued both for beauty and practical applications. Professional rose cultivators and rose water distillers operated throughout the Islamic world, particularly in Persia (modern Iran), Damascus, and later in Ottoman territories. These specialists grew roses specifically for distillation, creating rose water and rose oil used in cooking, perfumery, and religious contexts.

The city of Kashan in Persia became renowned for its rose cultivation and rose water production, a specialty that continues today. While these professionals focused primarily on roses for distillation rather than cut flowers for arrangement, they possessed deep knowledge of rose cultivation, hybridization, and processing.

Islamic gardens employed professional garden keepers who maintained elaborate floral displays. The famous Mughal gardens of India, including those at the Taj Mahal, required teams of specialists to maintain the precise geometric plantings and ensure continuous blooms throughout the growing season.

Medieval and Renaissance Europe: The Transitional Period

Medieval Monastery Gardens

During the medieval period in Europe, flowers retreated primarily into monastery gardens. Monks cultivated flowers for medicinal purposes, church decoration, and manuscript illumination. While this wasn’t commercial floristry, monasteries preserved botanical knowledge and cultivation techniques that would later support the profession’s emergence.

Some monasteries developed specialties in particular plants, trading seeds and specimens with other religious houses. This created a network of botanical exchange that predated commercial floriculture. The medicinal focus meant that most plants served practical purposes, but roses, lilies, and violets were grown for their symbolic religious significance as well.

Renaissance Italy: The Return of Ornamental Horticulture

The Italian Renaissance saw renewed interest in classical learning and aesthetics, including the Roman appreciation for flowers. Wealthy Italian families created elaborate gardens that required skilled gardeners and plant specialists. The Medici family in Florence patronized botanical gardens and employed specialists to acquire rare specimens from around the world.

While not yet commercial florists in the modern sense, these Renaissance gardeners performed similar functions—cultivating, arranging, and displaying flowers for aesthetic purposes. They corresponded with collectors across Europe, traded rare bulbs and seeds, and developed new cultivation techniques. This network of educated plant enthusiasts laid groundwork for the professionalization of floristry.

The Rise of Professional Floristry in Europe

The Dutch Golden Age (17th Century)

The Netherlands became central to floriculture development, particularly during the famous “Tulip Mania” of the 1630s. This period saw the emergence of specialized flower growers and traders operating as distinct commercial entities. The Dutch passion for tulips, recently introduced from the Ottoman Empire, created an unprecedented market for ornamental flowers.

Professional tulip growers developed sophisticated techniques for cultivating and hybridizing bulbs, creating new varieties that commanded extraordinary prices. While the speculative bubble eventually burst, the infrastructure for commercial flower production remained. Dutch expertise in horticulture, combined with their global trading networks, established the foundations for a commercial flower industry.

The Dutch developed advanced techniques for cultivating exotic flowers and created the first true flower markets where growers could sell to wholesalers and retailers. Amsterdam’s flower market became a model for similar markets across Europe. Dutch growers also pioneered greenhouse construction and forcing techniques to extend growing seasons.

Dutch flower painters like Jan Brueghel the Elder and Rachel Ruysch created botanical still lifes that celebrated the beauty and variety of flowers, further stimulating demand among wealthy collectors. The intersection of art, commerce, and horticulture in the Netherlands created conditions for floristry to emerge as a recognized profession.

The Florist’s Societies (18th Century)

In Britain, “florist’s societies” or “florist’s clubs” appeared in the early 18th century, particularly among working-class artisans and tradesmen in industrial cities like Norwich, Manchester, and London. These weren’t commercial associations but rather competitive groups devoted to cultivating specific “florist’s flowers” to perfection.

The eight traditional florist’s flowers were auriculas, carnations, pinks, polyanthus, ranunculus, tulips, hyacinths, and anemones. Members would compete at shows to produce the finest specimens according to strict aesthetic standards. Points were awarded for symmetry, color distribution, and conformity to ideal forms that each society established.

These societies created a culture of horticultural excellence and botanical knowledge among working people. Weavers, cobblers, and miners cultivated prize flowers in small urban gardens, developing expertise that rivaled that of wealthy estate gardeners. While these florists didn’t sell flowers commercially, they elevated the status of flower cultivation as a serious pursuit requiring skill, knowledge, and dedication.

The societies published standards and guides, created a shared vocabulary for describing flower characteristics, and established the principle that flower cultivation was a legitimate area of expertise. This cultural shift helped create social conditions where professional floristry could be respected as a skilled trade.

Victorian England (19th Century)

The Victorian era witnessed the true professionalization of commercial floristry in Britain, which then spread to other industrializing nations. Several factors converged to create this transformation.

The expanding middle class had disposable income and embraced elaborate flower arrangements as status symbols and social necessities. Flowers became essential for calling cards, dinner parties, balls, weddings, and funerals. The Victorians developed an intricate “language of flowers” (floriography), where different blooms conveyed specific sentiments. Young people used flowers to communicate feelings that social propriety prevented them from expressing directly. This created demand for florists who understood the symbolic system and could create appropriate bouquets.

Improved transportation, particularly railways, revolutionized the flower trade. Fresh flowers could travel from rural growing areas to urban markets within hours rather than days. The Cornish Riviera became famous for sending early spring flowers to London markets via overnight trains. The Channel Islands developed commercial daffodil and freesia cultivation for the British market.

Advances in greenhouse technology extended growing seasons and enabled year-round availability of flowers. Victorian engineers developed sophisticated heating systems, ventilation controls, and glass construction techniques that made large-scale greenhouse production economically viable. Orchids, which required warm, humid conditions, became Victorian status symbols, supporting specialized orchid growers and sellers.

Victorian florists became skilled artisans who created elaborate bouquets, funeral wreaths, wedding decorations, and corsages. The profession required knowledge of symbolism, design aesthetics, plant care, and the conditioning of cut flowers. Floral design books published standards for proper arrangements, and apprenticeship systems transmitted skills from masters to students.

Shop fronts dedicated exclusively to flowers became common in cities by the mid-19th century. Covent Garden in London housed a major wholesale flower market where provincial growers sold to London florists. Similar markets emerged in Paris (Les Halles), New York, and other major cities.

The profession also stratified. High-end florists served aristocratic and wealthy clients, creating elaborate installations for society events. Middle-market florists served the growing bourgeoisie. Street flower sellers, often women and children, sold simple bouquets to working-class customers. This stratification reflected the broader Victorian class structure but demonstrated that demand for flowers crossed class boundaries.

Continental European Developments

France developed its own floristry traditions, particularly in Paris. French florists emphasized elegance and artistic composition, often collaborating with fashion designers and interior decorators. The French formal garden tradition, epitomized by Versailles, created cultural appreciation for sophisticated floral displays.

By the late 19th century, Paris rivaled London as a center of floristry innovation. The Art Nouveau movement influenced floral design, emphasizing natural, flowing forms rather than rigid Victorian structures. French florists incorporated this aesthetic into their work, creating looser, more naturalistic arrangements.

Germany developed strong horticultural traditions, particularly in rose breeding and cultivation. German botanists and horticulturists made significant contributions to plant science, which supported more sophisticated commercial flower production. German cities established flower markets and floristry shops following the British and Dutch models.

Italy maintained its connection to classical and Renaissance garden traditions while also developing commercial floristry in major cities. Italian florists often specialized in flowers for religious ceremonies, given the prominence of the Catholic Church.

Global Expansion and Modern Floristry

North American Development (19th-20th Centuries)

Commercial floristry reached North America through European immigration. Dutch, English, and German immigrants brought floristry skills and traditions to American cities in the 19th century. The profession developed somewhat differently in the New World, with less emphasis on class distinctions and symbolic flower languages.

American florists focused on practical commercial applications—supplying flowers for weddings, funerals, and holidays. The profession grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as American cities expanded. Department stores opened floral departments, and telegraph services like FTD (Florists’ Transworld Delivery), founded in 1910, enabled long-distance flower ordering.

California’s climate enabled year-round flower production, creating a domestic growing industry that reduced dependence on imports. By the mid-20th century, California supplied much of America’s cut flowers. Specialized growing regions emerged—roses in California and Colombia, tulips from the Netherlands, carnations from Colorado and later Colombia.

American floristry education formalized through programs at agricultural colleges and specialized floristry schools. Professional associations like the Society of American Florists (founded 1884) established standards, promoted the profession, and advocated for industry interests.

Latin American Flower Industries

Colombia emerged in the late 20th century as one of the world’s major flower exporters, specializing in roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums. The country’s high altitude and equatorial location provide ideal growing conditions—consistent temperatures, predictable day length, and intense sunlight. The flower industry around Bogotá employs hundreds of thousands of workers and supplies much of North America’s cut flowers.

Ecuador similarly developed a major rose industry, with roses grown at high altitudes producing particularly large blooms with intense colors. These South American industries transformed global floristry by making certain flowers available year-round at relatively low prices.

However, these industries also raised questions about labor conditions, environmental impacts, and the sustainability of global flower trade. Modern florists increasingly grapple with these ethical dimensions of their profession.

Asian Floristry in the Modern Era

Japan’s ikebana tradition continued evolving in the modern era, with schools adapting to contemporary contexts while maintaining philosophical foundations. Japanese florists often train in ikebana while also learning Western floristry techniques, creating hybrid approaches.

Thailand developed a significant orchid industry in the late 20th century, becoming a major exporter of tropical flowers. Thai florists specialize in tropical arrangements using orchids, heliconias, and other exotic flowers that thrive in the country’s climate.

India maintains diverse floristry traditions, from elaborate flower garland-making for Hindu religious ceremonies and weddings to Western-style floristry in urban centers. Professional garland-makers, particularly in temple cities like Madurai and Varanasi, continue ancient traditions while also serving the massive Indian wedding industry.

The 20th Century to Present: Global Integration

The floristry profession continued evolving with technological advances throughout the 20th century. Refrigeration extended flower longevity and enabled global trade. Cold chain logistics—maintaining flowers at controlled temperatures from harvest through delivery—became essential to the modern industry.

Air freight made it possible to source flowers from anywhere in the world, fundamentally transforming the industry. A flower picked in Kenya on Monday could be sold in London by Wednesday. This global integration created opportunities but also challenges, as local growers competed with imports from regions with lower labor costs.

The Netherlands remained central to global floristry, with Dutch flower auctions becoming the world’s largest wholesale flower markets. The FloraHolland auction in Aalsmeer processes millions of flowers daily, using computer systems where buyers across Europe bid electronically on flowers that may still be growing in Kenya or Ecuador.

Professional associations and training programs formalized floristry as a skilled trade requiring artistic ability, botanical knowledge, and business acumen. Floristry competitions, including the World Cup of Floristry held every four years, elevated the profession’s status and showcased cutting-edge design work.

Today’s florists combine traditional craftsmanship with modern logistics, sourcing flowers globally while often emphasizing local and sustainable practices. The profession has expanded to include event design, wedding specialization, artistic floral installations, and sympathy work. Some florists focus on sustainable practices, sourcing locally grown flowers and using environmentally friendly materials.

The internet transformed how customers order flowers, with online florists competing with traditional shops. Same-day delivery services and subscription flower services represent new business models, though they often rely on networks of traditional florists for final delivery and arrangement.

Definition of the word “florist”

The journey from the Roman goddess Flora to contemporary global floristry reflects both continuity and transformation. Flowers have always held meaning for humans across cultures—for religious ceremonies, social rituals, personal expression, and aesthetic pleasure. Yet the specialized profession dedicated to their cultivation, arrangement, and sale developed differently across cultures and historical periods.

Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and Japan all developed sophisticated relationships with flowers, creating specialized roles for those who worked with them. These weren’t always commercial in the modern sense but represented proto-floristry—professions that combined botanical knowledge, aesthetic sensibility, and technical skill to provide flowers for specific cultural purposes.

The commercial floristry profession as we know it emerged primarily in early modern Europe, particularly the Netherlands and Britain, driven by factors including expanding markets, improved transportation, technological innovation, and cultural shifts that made ornamental flowers increasingly important to social life. This European model then spread globally through colonialism, immigration, and economic integration.

Today, floristry is truly global, with flowers grown on every continent and florists practicing in diverse cultural contexts. Yet the profession retains connections to its varied pasts—Japanese florists still practice ikebana, Indian garland-makers continue ancient temple traditions, and Western florists debate whether their work is art, craft, or commerce. The basic human impulse that created the first flower seller in a Roman marketplace continues to sustain this ancient-yet-modern profession.