Geraniums and war

Geranium

I rescued this potted pink geranium from an outdoor staircase at my work where it had been neglected. The plant had grown such long roots, that they were spilling out of the water drainage hole at the bottom of its ceramic pot. The flower has come back to life during the past month perched on my balcony ledge where it gets good afternoon sun. It's dried up stalks are renewed with new leaves, and blossoms that just appeared this week.

Symbolism
I haven't found much on the symbolism of pink geraniums in particular, but pink flowers generally symbolize a sweet kindness, and often nostalgia to childhood. However, perhaps you've had a glimpse of a supposed darker side of flower-gifting (see my post on florigraphy.)

Instead of playful childhood happiness, pink is also rumored to symbolize doubt. For example, I'm sending you pink flowers because "I don't get you. Why are you acting this way?" or "I'm not sure this is working, but I'm not ready to send the yellow flowers yet". (yellow being rumored to symbolize that the sender actually loves someone else - see my florigraphy post for amusing notes on this subject).

Back to geraniums. Like I mentioned, I couldn't find much about pink geraniums in particular but did get interested in red geraniums, which I read somewhere might not even be in the geranium family proper, as true geraniums are usually blue, but the red ones have become the most iconic 'geranium' there is.

I found the red geranium has ties to 2 post-war times - the War of 1812 and post-World War II. In regards to the War of 1812, there is a battlefield, Lundy's Lane Battlefield, in Niagra Falls that was thought to be the bloodiest one of this war. Years later, a teacher named Ruth Redmond saw the town of Niagra Falls coming up as a tourist destination so she started buying parts of the battlefield land to save it from urban development. Before she died she gave the land to the city in agreement that they would turn it into a historical park to commemorate the men who lost their lives there. Sources vary, but apparently Ms. Redmond loved the red geranium and had planted it all over the Lundy Lane land. After her death a campaign was led to make the flower the official symbol of the War of 1812; it's not clear whether this is official, but residents of the town still plant red geraniums in the park in honor of the lives lost.

The red geranium also has a place in the post-war WWII era in the 1950's idealized American home. The flower was affordable by the middle class, and its bright color seemed to represent a positive new outlook. Many people who grew up in this time relate red geraniums to a fond memory of home because they were so prevalent in and outside residences.

You can see the potted geraniums on the windowsill in this 1950's ad for a new sink (the yellow sink will complement the red flower), linking the plant to the idealized housewife who gazes out the window at her beautiful family and lifts a heeled foot in merry playful contentment at her perfect life. The flower seem the cherry-on-top to the depiction of the 'perfect' home of this era. The red geranium carried symbolism of change, stability, idealism and happiness that people of this time were seeking.

Red geraniums also appear in a literary favorite of mine, Harper Lee's "How to Kill a Mockingbird", as a symbol that all humankind have good somewhere in them, even the most corrupt. The beautiful flowers are tended to outside a decrepit home by Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a corrupt man who wrongly accuses a black man of raping her. Atticus Finch is the single dad lawyer, with a strong heart and moral value, who defends Tom Robinson in court, and tries to teach his 2 children the lessons of the red geranium - good exists in even the most corrupt of situations and people.

Now, if only the solution to finding my 'perfect' life was as easy as tying on an apron and getting started on growing some red geraniums!