Few things make people around the United States happy the way flowers do. At least 65% of people say that when they receive flowers, it makes them happy. For 69% of Americans, being around them, looking at them and smelling them helps their mood. When it comes to giving and getting birthday or holiday flowers, both make people happier. A full 80% of respondents say getting creates a feeling of happiness while 88% enjoy giving them. Here are some fun facts that may encourage you to give more bouquets.

  1. They help people sleep better. Insomnia is a problem for many people around the world. Gerbera daisies, in particular, are known to help people get a better night’s sleep. Scientists say they soak up carbon monoxide at night and sprew out healthy oxygen. This is especially good for people who suffer from sleep apnea, a condition that causes people to stop breathing at night.
  2. Tulips may now adorn many bouquets of holiday flowers but they used to be food. No, they are not now, nor were they ever considered to be delicious but they did help people who had no access to traditional sources of food. People used to eat the bulbs to keep hunger pangs at bay. It has been reported that soldiers in World War II ate them and others used the bulbs instead of onions when onions could not be found.
  3. Roses, almonds, and fruits are cousins. Roses have a large family tree that includes peaches, plums, pears, apples, almonds, raspberries, nectarines, and cherries. In fact, rose hips are berries that can be found inside some roses. Rose hips are often used to make teas and jellies and are said to be chock full of Vitamin C.
  4. Love broccoli or loathe it, it is a flower. President George H.W. Bush may never have included it with his holiday flowers but that is just what it is. The broccoli you eat has been picked just before it has had the chance to open into an actual flower. The flowers can also be eaten.
  5. Queen Victoria was such a fan of flowers that she set her own trends. Back in her day, young women were supposed to learn how to make a floral arrangement suitable for any florist shop. Victoria took her love for flowers even further. Instead of the customary crown, she often donned a wreath made from orange flowers. Her lavish use of flowers at her wedding made them a “must have” for brides all over her country.
  6. Prince Charles has used daffodils as a kind of currency. He is said to have paid for his land off the coast of Cornwall, on Scilly, with one of the flowers a year.
  7. If you want your hydrangeas to be a different color, change out their soil. The pH level of the soil that they live in is the determining factor for what color these flowers will be. The more basic your soil is, the pinker the flowers will be. HIgh levels of acid will create blue flowers.
  8. Sunflower plants are real lifesavers. In the first place, their stems have been used throughout time as lifejackets. The plants can also be woven together to create rafts that will clean water from contamination. For instance, they were used to clean up things after the disaster at Chernobyl. People used sunflower roots to get as much as 95% of the radioactive debris floating in the water.
  9. Flowers have their own language. It is called “Floriography” and is not spoken by plants but by people. This language has been in use for more than a thousand years. It reached its peak in popularity during the Victorian era. People worked hard to keep their emotions and more flirty thoughts to themselves. There was a dictionary of flowers which people would use to send notes to each other in the form of bouquets. This was their version of texting.

Flowers can cheer a person up any time of year. Holiday flowers are always popular because of how pretty they are, how great they smell, and how they make people feel when giving them and getting them. Few things can put an instance smile on someone’s face like a delivery of holiday flowers. It is hard to go wrong with them.