Gardenia Flower Meaning, Symbolism & Colors

When we think about flowers associated with the ultimate elegance, many of us often have gardenias in mind. Their (usually) white, delicate petals in various shapes and sizes make any garden marvelous and filled with secret meaning. Unsurprisingly, gardenia flower meaning and symbolism is a topic that fascinates flower enthusiasts.

Gardenia flowers symbolize elegance and beauty because of their delicate look and beautiful smell. Additionally, white gardenias stand for everlasting love and are often used in weddings. These gardenias also symbolize innocence and spirituality, while red gardenias epitomize passion.

In this article, I’ll discuss the various meanings and symbolisms that gardenia flowers represent. I’ll particularly focus on their varying colors, which stand for different aspects of many cultures.

What Do Gardenias Symbolize?

Gardenias symbolize different things to different people, such as elegance, long-lasting love, growth, beauty, and innocence. They can also symbolize spirituality.

Gardenias are common in many South-Asian countries, including Japan and China. As a result, these wonderful flowers carry some special meaning associated with these countries. Over time, however, and as gardenias swept the whole world, new meanings started appearing.

Here are a few things gardenias are known to symbolize:

Elegance

There aren’t many flowers that can look elegant in every color and variant, but gardenias do. Whether white, pink, or even yellow, these flowers are always elegant-looking. Thus, you can never go wrong with gardenias if you’re looking for class, elegance, and formality.

Another reason why gardenias symbolize elegance is their simple look. Although their petals can feature some of the most beautiful designs and natural wavy looks, gardenias don’t really have all that much that makes them that special – yet they are.

Gardenia shrubs are dark green. Typically, there aren’t many flowers growing on a gardenia bush. This gives it a modern look somehow because:

Gardenias are simple in their look (which is perfect for the modern minimalistic style)
They don’t have multiple-colored flowers on a single bush.

Everlasting Love

Gardenias are one of the most popular flowers used in weddings, be it as decorative flowers or in a bouquet. That’s certainly because, in our minds, the symbol of elegance is strongly associated with these flowers.

Additionally, white flowers are typically associated with weddings in Western cultures. Gardenias are perfect for such occasions because they even resemble wedding dresses, for instance, the August Beauty variety.

Growth

Gardenias are annual plants, which means they keep their green leaves throughout the year. Additionally, their blooming season occurs either at the end of spring or the beginning of summer. As a result, these flowers are the ultimate symbol of growth. But how so?

Firstly, gardenias symbolize the arrival of summer and the season of growth. They’re some of the earliest signs of approaching summer. That’s why they’re associated with the new growth of plants and animals after winter.

And since their shrubs keep growing throughout the year, gardenias make a perfect symbol of growth in that respect.

However, growth can also be seen in terms of health, and gardenias can help with this too. Throughout history, different Asian cultures have used these plants as medicine.

Research also supports the notion and proves that gardenia can be of help for many different health issues. In this case, you use gardenia as:

Oil
Tea
In food

Innocence

Because of their tender-looking flower petals and harmless stems and leaves, gardenia flowers are perfect symbols of innocence. Although they’re similar to roses in their looks, roses can’t really be a symbol of innocence because of their thorny stems.

Therefore, if you’re looking for a flower to give to someone and want to express this symbol of innocence, you can’t go wrong with gardenias. You can also use or plant these flowers to show you’re well-intentioned.

Spirituality

In many Asian cultures, spirituality is an essential element of people’s everyday lives, and gardenia plays a vital role in that. Once again, because of their delicate look, gardenias symbolize the spiritual aspect of our lives.

That’s partially why so many wedding ceremonies incorporate gardenias. There’s definitely an other-worldly element about these wonderful flowers.

Beauty

Gardenias aren’t only perfect wedding flowers; they’re also the most suitable gift because they symbolize beauty. So, if you have a date coming up and want to gift a bouquet to your partner, gardenias are a way to go.

As I mentioned, some gardenia varieties resemble roses, but we associate roses with passion. Plus, they’ve become an overused and quick “fix.” Gardenias, on the other hand, stand for the ultimate beauty while not being too “in your face” flowers.

Meaning of Different Gardenia Colors

Now that we’ve established what a nice gift gardenias make, let’s see when to use the different colors based on the meanings they convey.

White Gardenias

White gardenias are the most common type of gardenia flowers. Because we associate the color white with more religious notions, we often use white gardenias concerning spirituality, marriage, and innocence.

Pink Gardenias

Pink gardenias symbolize youthful passion and love. Traditionally, pink gardenias represented feminine aspects, but today it’s universal. This type of gardenia carries the meaning of new life and spring.

Yellow Gardenias

Yellow represents happiness in Western cultures, so yellow gardenias carry the same meaning. It’s a vibrant and joyful color, and yellow gardenias are perfect friendship gifts.

Additionally, in Asian cultures, yellow represents prosperity. Therefore, yellow gardenias can be an excellent gift for your loved ones to wish them well.

Red Gardenias

Apart from strong passion, red gardenias also signify courage. The red color is associated with danger and blood, so red gardenias are perfect for showing your partner how passionate you feel about them.

Additionally, red gardenias stand for elegance (white gardenias too). The stark contrast of dark green leaves and bright red flowers creates this blend of colors which are somehow elegant and romantic.

Final Thoughts

Gardenia flowers are one of the most beautiful flowers. Even though they originated from South Asia and Africa, gardenias have also gathered many new meanings and symbolisms in Western cultures. These include:

Elegance
Everlasting Love
Growth
Innocence
Spirituality
Beauty

Different gardenia colors carry their own special meanings. This often helps us choose the perfect gardenia flowers either for gifts or to plant in our garden. The four colors include white, pink, yellow, and red.