Flower Coloring Pages
The first flowers bloomed more than 100 million years ago, back when dinosaurs were stomping around. Today there are hundreds of thousands of kinds, and every bright color and sweet smell is a way of saying "bees, over here!"
There's a bit of magic in a garden too, which is why flower fairies, dragons and even gardener trolls turn up among the roses and sunflowers.
Boys with Bouquets of Flowers
Flowers are one of the oldest ways to say thank you, sorry or happy birthday, and nobody ever said they were only for girls. A fistful of dandelions from a little boy has probably been loved just as much as a dozen roses.
Brides with Bouquets of Flowers
In some old traditions brides carried bundles of strong-smelling herbs instead of flowers, because people believed the smell chased away bad luck. Flowers slowly took over, and each kind picked up a meaning of its own. Red tulips, for example, have long stood for true love.
Flower Fairies
Flower fairies are tiny, about as tall as a petal, and each one belongs to a single kind of flower. Stories say they tuck themselves inside the blooms at night, which would explain why so many petals fold up when the sun goes down.
Flower Girls
Almost anyone who grew up near a meadow knows how to make a daisy chain: poke a slit in one stem with your thumbnail and thread the next flower through. Girls and flowers have gone together like that for ages, whether it's a crown of daisies, a basket of petals or a single rose.
Flower Dragons
In Chinese tradition dragons are friendly rain-bringers, and rain is exactly what flowers need to grow. So a dragon curled up in a garden makes more sense than you'd think, especially one with scales shaped like lily petals.
Gardener Trolls
In old Scandinavian stories trolls turn to stone if sunlight touches them, which makes gardening a tricky hobby. A troll who loves flowers would have to work at dusk, or very early before the sun comes up.
pre-printing
practice flower
Chrysanthemums
The name chrysanthemum means “golden flower” in Greek, even though mums bloom in nearly every colour. In Japan the chrysanthemum is a symbol of the emperor, and his throne is even called the Chrysanthemum Throne.
cartoon clematis
Daffodils
Daffodils are some of the first flowers of spring, and they sometimes push up right through leftover snow. Their bulbs are poisonous, so hungry deer and squirrels leave them alone, which is one reason they keep coming back year after year.
Lilies
Greek stories say the first lilies sprouted from drops of milk spilled by the goddess Hera. The rest of the milk splashed across the sky and became the Milky Way.
Poppies
Roses
Those sharp points on a rose stem aren't really thorns. Botanists call them prickles, because they grow from the skin of the stem instead of deep inside it. Fossils show roses were growing more than 30 million years ago, long before anyone thought of giving them as presents.
Sunflowers
Young sunflowers follow the sun. All day long they slowly turn their faces from east to west, then swing back around in the night to be ready for sunrise. Once they're fully grown they stop turning and most of them face east for good.
Tulips
Tulips are famous in the Netherlands, but they first grew wild in the mountains of Central Asia. In the 1600s Dutch buyers got so excited about them that one rare bulb could cost more than a skilled worker earned in a year.
