HAY PIGGIES & PALS! It's Fur and Flowers Friday! 🐹 💗 💗 💗 🌺 🏵️ 🌷 🥕

Victorians loved to communicate indirectly with floriography, the secret language of flowers! Flowers were ascribed meanings, sometimes traditional, sometimes sentimental or symbolic, allowing bouquets and garden plantings to carry hidden messages of love, friendship, remembrance, admiration, or even gentle reproach.

Piggies are happy with piggy friends!. And flowers appreciate companions too!

Sweet Williams, those old-fashioned dianthus flowers in shades of pink, crimson, and white, have long been cottage garden favourites. They’re often planted beside their cheerful companions, the yellow-and-black Black-eyed Susans, a pairing gardeners have loved for generations.

Their names even became linked in the old 18th-century ballad Black-Eyed Susan by John Gay. In the poem, Susan comes to the harbour to say goodbye to her beloved William before he sails away to sea. As the ship prepares to depart, the faithful Susan is left sadly waving farewell from her little boat as she’s rowed back to shore.

In the Victorian language of flowers, Sweet William symbolized bravery and gallantry, while Black-eyed Susans came to represent encouragement, justice, and motivation!

Sweet Williams are still popular with gardeners today too. The flowers are edible for humans in small amounts and are sometimes used as decorative garnishes, though their flavour can be a bit spicy or clove-like. Black-eyed Susans, on the other hand, are generally not considered edible garden flowers and are better admired than eaten.

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Guinea pigs can admire these flowers but should nibble only on guinea pig edible choices in moderation (and pesticide free) such as:

Dandelion — flowers, leaves, stems, and roots are edible; rich in vitamin C and helpful for digestion.
Marigold (calendula-type marigolds only) — fed a couple of times a week; noted for fiber and digestive support.
Rose and rose hips — safe in small amounts if unsprayed; a source of vitamin C.
Rosemary — aromatic herb rich in vitamins, though they caution to feed sparingly because of calcium content.
Lavender — considered safe in moderation and noted for calming properties.
Raspberry Leaf — valued for fiber and sometimes given to pregnant guinea pigs.
Chamomile — often used for anxious piggies and digestion support.

Wheek! Wheek!