Flowers of the month, Seasonal
Each month of the lunar calendar has its associated flower
- first month, plum or prunus. It also represents the winter.
- second month, peach blossoms
- third month, tree peony, it also represents spring and symbolizes health, riches, honor, love and affection, feminine beauty, and prosperity.
- fourth month, cherry blossoms, also represents feminine beauty.
- fifth month, magnolia, also represents feminine sweetness and beauty.
- sixth month, pomegranate
- seventh month, lotus/orchid, also represents summer, and symbolizes purity amid adverse surroundings, creative power. The pod with its seeds, symbolizes offspring and fruitfulness.
- eighth month, pear blossoms, also represents wise and benevolent administration.
- ninth month, mallow blossoms
- tenth month, chrysanthemum, also represents autumn and symbolizes solid friendship, joviality, life of ease, retirement from public office. Its Chinese name sound similar to the words remain, nine, and long time. The best time to pick Chrysanthemums is thus on the 9th day of the 9th month.
- eleventh month, gardenia
- and twelfth month, poppy
Seasonal groupings of flowers are a common theme in Chinese art, frequently presented as four panels on a screen or as a set of scrolls, the primary flower immediately identifying the season:
- the peony, spring
- the lotus or iris, summer
- the chrysanthemum, autumn
- the prunus (early flowering fruit trees, most typically plum blossoms as they are the first of all the fruit trees to flower), winter.
Other appropriate seasonal flowers are sometimes added or substituted:
- spring, wisteria
- summer, willow
- autumn, grapes, and
- winter, pine.
