Birth Flowers by Month: Chart and Meanings for All 12

Birth flower chart

This is the US list from The Old Farmer's Almanac. The first flower for each month is the primary birth flower and the second is the secondary one. Each month links to its own page, with the meanings in full, colors and tattoo ideas.

Birth flowers by month, with what each one means
Month	Birth flowers	What they mean
January	Carnation and snowdrop	Carnation: fascination, and a mother's love Snowdrop: hope
February	Violet and primrose	Violet: modesty and faithfulness Primrose: early youth
March	Daffodil and jonquil	Daffodil: regard, and new beginnings Jonquil: “I desire a return of affection”
April	Daisy and sweet pea	Daisy: innocence Sweet pea: delicate pleasures, or goodbye
May	Lily of the valley and hawthorn	Lily of the valley: return of happiness Hawthorn: hope
June	Rose and honeysuckle	Rose: love Honeysuckle: generous and devoted affection
July	Larkspur and water lily	Larkspur: lightness, levity and first love Water lily: purity of heart
August	Gladiolus and poppy	Gladiolus: strength and integrity Poppy: consolation, and remembrance
September	Aster and morning glory	Aster: love and patience; once “afterthought” Morning glory: affection, or affectation
October	Marigold and cosmos	Marigold: grief, and remembrance Cosmos: order and harmony
November	Chrysanthemum	Chrysanthemum: joy and loyalty; mourning in parts of Europe
December	Narcissus and holly	Narcissus: self-love, after the myth Holly: foresight

What is my birth flower?

Your birth flower is the flower of the month you were born in. Find your month in the chart: born in March, it's the daffodil; born in October, the marigold. Most months have two, so you can keep the one you like better or claim both. November is the only month with a single flower, the chrysanthemum.

Birth flowers go by calendar month, not by star sign, so a birthday on the 1st and one on the 31st share the same flowers.

What do birth flowers mean?

Most of the meanings come from the language of flowers, the Victorian habit of giving every flower a message so a bouquet could say something without words. Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers, published in London in 1884, is one of the best-known dictionaries of it, and it's the source of many meanings on these pages: hope for the snowdrop, innocence for the daisy, love for the rose.

The months follow the seasons. The Almanac notes that each month's flower is usually tied to when it blooms, which is why January has a winter flower and September has asters. A few meanings are newer and very American: the carnation became the Mother's Day flower in 1908, and the red poppy became a flower of remembrance after the First World War.

Why are there two birth flowers for each month?

Nobody ever settled the list. According to the Almanac, different cultures paired different flowers with the same month, and not every flower grows everywhere, so it gives a traditional primary flower and a secondary one for most months.

Often the second flower fills a gap. July's larkspur is a garden flower and its partner, the water lily, belongs to ponds. March's jonquil is simply another kind of daffodil. December sets the paperwhite, a florist's winter flower, next to holly, which stays green outside all winter.

Is there an official birth flower list?

No. Nobody keeps an official birth flower list the way states keep official state flowers. In the US, the list most sources follow is The Old Farmer's Almanac's, the one on this page. UK lists differ for several months, so a British site may give you a different flower.

Sources disagree about meanings too. Greenaway gives the sweet pea two meanings in the same book, “departure” and “delicate pleasures,” and the morning glory is “affectation” in her list but “affection” in the Almanac's. Where that happens, the month pages say so.