Ever since the time of Shakespeare, plants and flowers possessed special meanings. Ophelia talked about "rosemary for remembrance" and mentioned different flowers in one of her speeches. The modern significance of flowers originated in the socially proper and reserved Victorian era when people can not straight-forwardly express their emotions.

You could give a floral gift instead of sending a passionate letter or just flirting around, which used to be considered quite inappropriate. Some people authored complex explanations as to the significance of specific blossoms and their hues, so when a bouquet came you had to consult these to discover what the blooms were supposed to signify

Everyone has always loved giving and receiving armfuls of roses or floral centerpieces made up of only roses. We're all aware that red roses signify intense love, but blossoms of other hues have their own meanings. You can say you want to be a friend if you give pink roses, and the white blooms symbolize chastity, which makes them excellent for displaying during marriage ceremonies. When you put various colors together, decoding the significances becomes further complicated.

Prior to the 18th century the only roses available were in shades of white to red. During this time the yellow rose appeared, but the color was associated with fading love, infidelity and jealousy. Over time, the negative feelings surrounding the yellow rose gave way to that of other yellow flowers whose color resembled the light and joy of the sun. The modern meaning of the yellow rose has become associated with the feelings of welcome, happiness, friendship and celebration.

Yellow roses have special meaning to Texans, because of the well-known song, "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Though the "rose" in this popular old-time song is a beautiful woman, there was also a hybrid rose variety, called Harrison's Yellow, that was developed around the time as the first recordings of the song. It's possible that this new rose inspired the song. Whatever the case, Texans are still passionate about yellow roses today.