The flowers in Breath of the Wild largely serve as materials used for boosting Link’s abilities or upgrading his armor. They’re found all across Hyrule, though they vary considerably in scarcity and value. Today, I’d like to look at six of these flowers and compare them to their real-world counterparts, if any. Some are a little more fantastical than others! 

Starting off easy, there are two flowers in the game that have very obvious real-world counterparts: swift violets and mighty thistles. Swift violets, used for boosting speed, closely resemble…well, violets. On the other hand, attack-boosting mighty thistles don’t look exactly like our thistles. While they look somewhat like a closed thistle bud, the bright orange color and sharp, pointy tip is distinctly out of this world. 

Armoranths, ingested for a defense boost, are a little more obscure. The round, compact bulbs in the game look nothing like draping amaranthus. However, they look a lot like gomphrena (albeit a bit larger,) and another name for gomphrena is globe amaranth. Unlike armoranths, gomphrena comes in quite a few different colors, and while it’s theoretically edible, the texture of the flowers makes them better suited for tea.

Blue nightshade, used to help Link move quietly and stealthily, is a bit of a misnomer. While both blue nightshade and real-world nightshade have drooping buds, real-world nightshade is more often found in purple and white with a distinct, spiky shape to its petals. Blue nightshade more closely resembles a lily of the valley with the color of a bluebell. Notably, however, neither flower glows in the dark like blue nightshade does in-game.

Safflina, which comes in three varieties and increases Link’s resistance to different elements, was difficult to identify. The plant has a name that reminds me of safflower or saffron. However, neither flower looks like any type of safflina; safflower is a short, thistle-like flower, and saffron’s flowers are large and wide, not tall and thin. Safflina more closely resembles salvia in both its shape and the colors it’s found in. The names are similar, but just different enough to throw you for a loop!

Finally, perhaps the most important flower in Breath of the Wild is the silent princess. It is one of the most scarce materials in the game, only found in certain remote locations on the map. It also carries symbolic weight, representing the one and only Princess Zelda and appearing in the game’s logo. The five-pointed bloom resembles nightshade, ironically more than blue nightshade does. The coloration of the plant is reminiscent of a stargazer lily, albeit blue instead of pink. Its closest match in both color and shape is columbine. It’s perhaps fitting that a flower so magical and special in the world of Hyrule has no exact match to be found in our own world. 

Breath of the Wild has so many little details to create this world, and the variety of plants and flowers you can pick up is just one of them. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled for release on May 12th, 2023 with, hopefully, even more Hylian wildflowers. In the meantime, if you’d like a bouquet of not-quite-Hylian wildflowers, just give us a call!

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A recent study shows that men enjoy receiving flowers as much as women do. “It increases overall happiness and life satisfaction,” Jeannette Haviland-Jones, the author of the study, says. In fact, because it is traditionally so unexpected, men might actually enjoy receiving flowers more than women do.

Reid agrees part of the appeal of receiving flowers is that it is not often done. “Even though it isn’t, it seems like a woman makes even more of an effort than a man by sending flowers, just because they are breaking convention a little bit,” he says.

Today I took an order from a wife who is sending her husband flowers for Father’s Day. She asked me what kind of arrangement we could do. Men’s favorite colors are blue, black, green, brown, and red. We focus on that palate and use flowers that have texture and are more rustic.

Mother Nature has created so many wonderful flowers in all different colors and textures. Some of our favorite flowers for men are thistle, protea, scabiosa, safari sunset, hypericum berries, and even calla lilies for their darker hues.

So give Dad Father’s Day flowers! It will bring him joy and increased happiness for days to follow. Just give us a call. We would love to help celebrate the father figures in your life!

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Dahlia

Most people think of dahlias as late spring and summer flowers, but this year has been a tough one for dahlias. According to our farmers, dahlias need a cold winter and a warm spring to produce the most beautiful dahlias. That was not this year so it’s just been recently that we’ve been able to get the large, gorgeous dahlias that we’re used to. The deep colors are perfect for our fall brides’ bouquets.

Astrantia

Astrantia looks like a wildflower to me. It’s delicate and willowy and comes in different colors. It is not a focal flower. When added to a bouquet or arrangement, it adds surprising texture and depth. Astrantia also ties different colors together into a cohesive look–whites and burgundies, pinks and maroons.

Strawflower

With a texture that doesn’t feel like a real flower, strawflowers are just fun! If you’re hoping to hang your bride’s bouquet upside down to create a dried bouquet, strawflowers are a perfect addition. They look the same when dried as they do when freshly cut.

Celosia

While many people don’t know this flower’s name, they sure can describe it! It’s the Dr. Seuss flower! Celosia comes in many forms and colors from mustard colored cranial flowers to bright red feathery spiked flowers. This is a fun flower to add whimsy and texture. We’ve been enjoying this soft lavender colored Asian Garden celosia that came to us unexpectedly from a local farmer.

Thistle

Trevor has been known to call this his secret ingredient, and it’s easy to see why! He’s particular to the Sea Holly thistle for its vibrant blue color. Mother Nature doesn’t have a lot of flowers that come in true blue. But this thistle really is true blue while adding subtle texture.

Astilbe

If you have a bride’s bouquet or arrangement that is heavy with large flowers, astilbe might be the perfect addition. This airy flower comes in all different colors from whites and pastels to deep hued burgundies. Astilbe is perfect for adding texture and breaking up blocks of heavier flowers such as roses and dahlias.

Queen Anne’s Lace

While baby’s breath is still a wedding standard, we’ve had fun this year using Queen Anne’s Lace instead. I usually think of Queen Anne’s Lace as the wildflower that I see when I run through the Manassas battlefields. It is that wildflower. When used in a bride’s bouquet or reception centerpieces, it lends that soft delicate quality that brides often look for.

One of the fun things about living in Virginia is experiencing the wonders of each of the four seasons. I get excited when I wake up to crisp chilly mornings and the sound of wind blowing through drying leaves. The advent of fall is also exciting for florists as we get to play with the new colors and textures of our favorite flowers…right now.

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Butterflies

According to National Geographic, “The eastern population of monarchs has declined over 80 percent, and the western population is nearly extinct, with just 3 percent of its population remaining.” There are a lot of contributing factors, but the biggest and most immediate cause is the loss of milkweed.
“Milkweed, often considered a nuisance by farmers and residents, is the lifeblood of the monarch butterfly, which uses the plant for food and breeding. But herbicides and development have wiped out milkweed across the Midwest, compromising one of the monarch’s most critical habitats,” explains an Indianapolis Star article. The article does goes on to highlight farmers who are swapping out their cash crops for milkweed. Good news!

Weeds

I was on the phone yesterday with a woman who was placing an order for flowers to celebrate the birth of a baby boy. She wanted to focus on blue and yellow and white, but she was very specific about which flowers she wanted to include in the arrangement. I mentioned salidago, also known as goldenrod. It’s a beautiful, tall, filler flower that adds gorgeous yellow color and texture to arrangements. “No salidago please. It always reminds me of a weed.” This is a common sentiment.

As I little girl, I didn’t know the difference between flowers and weeds. I remember walking to elementary school at the end of summer. I loved milkweed! It went from tall flowers that were almost eye level, to hard pods, to this wonderful angel hair filling the pods. I loved cracking open the pods and watching the silk waft away on the breeze. Now I realize I was helping mother nature sow next year’s milkweed seeds. As sometimes happens, the adult in me did not appreciate milkweed as much as the child in me did, until now. Like so many others, I considered it a weed. This week, I planted three milkweed plants in my yard and hope to plant more. I haven’t seen a monarch butterfly since my boys were little. I hope that changes soon!

Flowers

We’re always taking pictures of our arrangements at the flower shop. Once I started looking at an arrangement through the lens of a camera, I started to notice the exquisite beauty of each individual flower. This actually prompted me to start taking videos of some arrangements so I could highlight each flower. Every bride loves peonies and ranunculus. Orchids and calla lilies lend elegance and a touch of the exotic. Hydrangeas add a soft summery feeling. But it’s the wild flowers that add texture and uniqueness to an arrangement. They make arrangements fun and help to highlight the showier flowers. Yes, arrangements can be fun!

Bees

I think a lot as I drive to and from work. The other morning I was pondering what to write for the next blog post–something about flowers, of course! I was sitting at a traffic light and looked absently out the passenger window. On the side of the road was a stretch of the most beautiful wild flowers. I turned down a side street and parked to get photos. There were a lot of bees and butterflies enjoying the flowers so I had to step carefully. All of the photos above are the wild flowers I saw from my car.

As I was planting my own wild flowers last weekend, I was smiling at the full circle I had come from the little girl who loved milkweed, to the adult that thought it was just a weed, to a more understanding adult that not only loved the flower but appreciated its important place in our little world. A delicate white butterfly hovered around me the whole time I was planting–never more than 8 inches off the ground or more than a few feet from me. I like to think it was thanking me for understanding and appreciating.

“One man’s weed is another man’s flower,” ~Gloria Naylor

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