When there is an Overkill, Everything that is Floral is NOT Lovable

You see a vase and you start imagining the type of flora and fauna it can host. You enter a business meeting and seem impressed with the flower collection. You buy another pair of floral-printed denim and feel that this time, the print is really unique. Do you think you create happy vibes? Wrong!! You are nothing close to helping people feel better. You are predictable and therefore, boring, in a suck-it sort of way. I have encountered so many of these instances. Yes, bright flowers are something I love too, spread across the room in a minimal, subtle way. The fragrance can be seriously uplifting - after all, many potent essential oils are actually flower extracts. However, calling a home charming, a room outdoorsy, a workplace welcoming, a hotel lobby glamorous, a beauty queen ethereal, or guitarist in a floral ensemble, a true Boho gypsy sort is a stretch. I truly believe that everything that is themed around nature, natural, organic, beautiful, earthy, and real does not need to be floral all the time.

Some common examples when all flowery things don't seem that lovable: you might have planted a variety that tends to grow too little, needs too much caring, does not have a unique scent, has the smallest flowering season, and takes up too much of your time. Yes, in the world of gardening, every pot with a flower is not worthy of being on the must-have list. Ask a gardener and he will tell you that some of the flowering plants just take up too much caring and as a result, they are not adored by indoor or outdoor enthusiasts. Does every gardener aspire to have a garden filled with flowering plants that need constant care? Not really. There are plenty who would trade the flowering variety with foliage plants or even succulents. People often if dried flower arrangements are still in style? Yes, they are but only when done properly. Using dried flowers for potpourri arrangement on the center table is a great idea but not when the table cover is already overflowing with bright flowers.  

A common example is when people pose a manufactured love for all things floral: I have seen this among many people where they will pick out only the floral themes, from the wall decor wallpapers to the tapestry of the sofa or the living room. Ask someone for an unbiased opinion, and it just might emerge that when surrounded by flowers, plants, branches, and stems in every possible print in your living environment, it gets rather overwhelming. Having a penchant for choosing all things in floral prints does not make you a naturalist. In fact, it might present you as someone who perhaps does not understand the difference between maintaining slightly different indoor and outdoor themes. Then there are flowers that just don't have any fragrance - think of artificial flowers, and there are people who will stroke plastic flowers too as if faux flowers are exuding some type of rare scent. Something similar happens when people are out, driving past a landscape that has a lot of green, including flowers, and still, some people will behave as if their senses were uplifted, with the flowers being 100 miles away. I feel such folks are borderline posers, trying to follow the social norms to look very normal, romancing everything with a hint of floral designs or flowery presence.

This is not about hating floral themes in any way: Please take a minute to navigate to the floral dress blog that I did some time back - just go back to the Home Page and use the bottom-placed search bar to look up for "floral". Please note that this is not about hating flowers in any way. When done correctly, they are obviously lovable. But an overkill, complete with wearing a floral dress, floral scent, floral-themed phone case, and florally decked-up handbag perhaps overdoes the entire thing. And this comes from me, despite maintaining more than 100 planters across four balconies, I still feel I have stayed away from the florally biased love. When I found out that sunflower was the chosen flower for 2021, I loved the idea of it but ask me about putting up sunflower-print lampshades with a sunflower print wall hanging in the background, and it is a sure-shot turn-off for me. Yes, summer fashion is always highly floral but only when combined with an equally generous dose of muted hues and lots of whites to create the perfect contrast. This is why when soft neutrals came across as the chosen floral design trend for 2021, I loved the idea. Similarly, some fashion experts have been quoting big, graphic, and oversized as the way to do floral fashion and I agree, but again, the balance has to be maintained - staying away from the excesses! 

IF YOU LIKE READING ABOUT THIS, TRY:

Link for the latest floral trends report

Link of floral trends seen from the perspective of a florist

Link to understand the basics of flower arrangements