August birth flowers: gladiolus and poppy

What is the August birth flower?

The August birth flower is the gladiolus, with the poppy as the second flower for the month, in the order The Old Farmer's Almanac gives. The Almanac points out what they share: both are fine cut flowers, and both carry meanings tied to remembrance.

What does the gladiolus mean?

The gladiolus means strength and integrity. The name explains why: it's the Latin for “little sword,” from gladius, after the long, sword-shaped leaves, and the plant has also been called the sword lily. The Almanac calls it the flower of the gladiators and lists integrity, strength and victory.

It's one of the few birth flowers missing from Kate Greenaway's 1884 Language of Flowers. Its meanings are newer, and partly American: the gladiolus became a garden favorite in the US around 1900, and the American Gladiolus Society was founded in Boston in 1910.

Its colors carry the usual shades in the Almanac's telling: red for love and passion, pink for compassion and a mother's love, white for innocence, yellow for friendship and joy, purple for fortune and beauty.

What does the poppy mean?

The poppy means consolation. That's Greenaway's meaning for the red poppy, and the Almanac keeps it. The scarlet poppy gets a livelier line in her book, “fantastic extravagance,” which suits a flower that's so bright and lasts so briefly.

The poppy of this page is the corn poppy, the red wild poppy of European fields. It grows in disturbed ground, field edges and roadsides, and that habit is part of why it became the flower it is today.

What does the red poppy mean?

The red poppy means remembrance of those who died in war. It comes from the First World War, when corn poppies came up across the churned battlefields of Flanders. In May 1915 a Canadian doctor, John McCrae, wrote the poem that fixed the image:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row

In 1918 an American teacher, Moina Michael, took up the red poppy as a symbol of remembrance, and in 1920 the American Legion adopted it. Its auxiliary still hands out paper poppies around Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and the Friday before Memorial Day is National Poppy Day. In Britain and the Commonwealth, the poppy belongs to Remembrance Day, November 11, and has since the first Poppy Day in 1921.

So a paper poppy on a lapel in those weeks is a quiet act of memory, not a decoration.

Why does August have two birth flowers?

The Almanac gives most months a primary and a secondary flower because traditions differ and flowers aren't everywhere. August's two are a study in contrast. The gladiolus stands tall and formal, a florist's flower that lasts in a vase. The corn poppy is wild and brief, scattered across a field one week and gone the next. They meet in what they mean: strength, and remembering.

August birth flower tattoo ideas

Both flowers have strong shapes, and the poppy carries a meaning many people want to wear for good.

• A gladiolus spike. The tall column of flowers fits long placements: the forearm, the spine or the outer thigh.
• A remembrance poppy. A single red poppy is a common memorial tattoo for a family member who served, sometimes with a name or date.
• Sword and flower. Play on the name with a gladiolus whose leaves are drawn as blades, a neat nod to “little sword.”
• Red on black. The poppy's red petals with a dark center work in bold color; a gladiolus in soft peach or white suits fine line.

When and where do they bloom?

Garden gladioli are hybrids, bred from wild species native to Africa, the Mediterranean and western Asia, and they flower in mid to late summer. The corn poppy is native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia, and has spread across most of North America.

Native ranges come from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants as published by World Flora Online (CC BY 4.0), names and families from Wikidata (CC0), and flowering times from the floras listed under Sources. They describe the wild plant; garden and florist flowers follow their own calendars.

Catch it in PocketPetal

In PocketPetal, the plants you snap become your collection. Each catch gets a name from image recognition and a rarity roll from Common to Mythic, and it earns XP toward your next level.

Gladioli stand tall in late-summer gardens and fill buckets at farmers' markets and florists, all of which count. Poppies are a find for meadows, field edges and gardens earlier in the summer. Step back to fit the whole flower in, and keep to the path.

In the Northern Hemisphere, August is the last month that counts toward Summer Sun. Rarity is luck, the same for every plant. Read up on rarity and the badges, or plan a route with our scavenger hunt.