Flowers are one of the most common gifts on Valentine's day for both the eager newbies and experienced casanovas. However, what both ends of this spectrum have in common is that often there is little thought put into the meaning of the colours of the flowers that are purchased. The colour of your flowers has major importance because over the centuries certain motifs and colours have come to mean certain things. The last thing you want to do is get someone the wrong coloured flowers on Valentine's day as that is a major faux pas.

Red

This is the safest colour of flower to purchase from your florist for Valentine's day. Red flowers, and especially roses, have long been associated with love, romance and courtship. This dates back to the middle ages and possibly even before and there is nothing more classic than a dozen red roses freshly cut from your local florist. Don't be afraid to try out a few different coloured flowers though, especially as the years go by and you have gotten red roses a few times in a row.

Blue

While red is the colour of passion blue is the colour associated with peace. While this may not seem that inspiring an emotion to try and elicit out of your loved one it is perfect when part of a bouquet of many different colours. The blue flowers will never overpower the rest of the bunch but often your eyes will instinctively be drawn to it because it is such an unnatural colour to find in nature outside of flowers. Many people have blue as their favourite colour and for those people, you should be looking at hydrangeas, bellflowers, delphiniums or even the humble blue dandelion.

White

White flowers are where you can start to run into trouble when it comes to Valentine's day. White traditionally is associated with either weddings or funerals when it comes to flowers and there is very little wiggle room. Your florist will most likely advise you against white flowers because of how strongly it is associated with those two ceremonies. However, sometimes you can get away with some white flowers like carnations or magnolias in the background of a bouquet. Many mostly white flowers also have a tinge of some other colour (such as yellow) which can dilute the effect as well. Still, this is more of a risky move and it might be a bit too out there to try out on a first date or Valentine's day.

For more information about flower colours and their meaning, talk to a local florist.