February Birth Flower: Violet and Primrose Meaning

February's birth flowers are the violet and the primrose. Both are small, low-growing spring flowers, and both carry gentle meanings: faithfulness and modesty for the violet, young love for the primrose.

February birthdays have their own version of the December problem. Instead of Christmas, they compete with Valentine's Day, and a dozen red roses sent for a February birthday can read as the wrong holiday. This guide covers what the February flowers mean and how to send birthday flowers that say birthday.

What is the birth flower for February?

The violet (Viola) is February's main birth flower, and the primrose (Primula vulgaris) is the second. Some lists also include the iris, which shares the violet's purple.

Violets and primroses are garden and potted flowers that wilt quickly as cut stems, so florists almost never use them in bouquets. The usual approach is to borrow their colours. February's birthstone, the amethyst, is purple too, so purple is February's colour on both counts.

Violet flower meaning

Violets stand for modesty, faithfulness, humility and loyal love. The phrase "shrinking violet" comes from the way the flower hides close to the ground under its leaves. In the Victorian language of flowers, a blue violet promised "I'll always be true".

Violets have a long romantic history. Napoleon and Josephine exchanged them, and his supporters wore them as a badge during his exile. Violets are also the provincial flower of New Brunswick: the purple violet, Viola cucullata, adopted in 1936. Our full violet flower meaning guide goes deeper into the colours and history.

Primrose flower meaning

The primrose stands for young love and, in the old language of flowers, "I can't live without you." The name comes from the Latin prima rosa, "first rose", because it's one of the first flowers of spring.

Primroses are usually pale yellow, sometimes pink, purple or red. Potted primroses show up in Canadian grocery stores in February, and they make a cheerful add-on to a birthday gift.

Choosing a February birthday bouquet

Purple and soft yellow are the February palette, and they keep a birthday bouquet clearly apart from Valentine's red. A few ways to do it:

• An all-purple bouquet built from lisianthus, stock, iris and lavender roses. The Shades of Purple Bouquet is a ready-made version, and our purple flowers collection has more.
• Lavender roses for a romantic partner whose birthday lands near Valentine's: romantic, but not the standard red. See The Lavender Rose Bouquet.
• Purple with yellow to nod to both the violet and the primrose. Iris, our iris guide covers it, pairs naturally with yellow accents.
• Pink and lavender for a mom or grandmother. Pink and Lavender Harmony is soft without being saccharine.

Ordering around Valentine's Day

If the birthday falls between February 10 and 16, order early. Valentine's week is the busiest of the year for florists. Red roses get scarce and expensive, and delivery slots fill up. Purple flowers are much easier to source that week, which is one more reason to pick February's own colour.

If you're also sending Valentine's flowers, our Valentine's Day flower delivery guide covers timing, and the Valentine's collection is separate from the birthday range.

Violets and primroses as potted gifts

If you'd like to give the real February flowers, both grow well as houseplants for a while. Potted primroses like a cool, bright windowsill and soil that stays slightly moist; they'll bloom for several weeks and can go into a shady garden bed after the last frost. African violets, which aren't true violets but share the purple and the name, are long-lived houseplants that flower on and off all year with bright, indirect light and water from below.

A small potted plant tucked beside a bouquet doubles the gift. The bouquet gives the colour now, and the plant keeps the birth flower on the windowsill.

What to write on the card

A line about the flower's meaning turns a February birthday bouquet into something more personal. A few to borrow:

• "Happy birthday! Violets mean faithfulness, which is exactly the kind of friend you are."
• "Primroses for the first sign of spring, and for you."
• "Purple for February, and for the most loyal person I know."
• "Not a Valentine, a birthday bouquet, all yours."

Sending a February birthday bouquet anywhere in Canada

Flowers on Demand delivers across every province and territory through a network of local florists, who arrange and hand-deliver each order. Delivery is a flat $19.99. For same-day delivery, order before 1:00 PM in the recipient's time zone, Monday to Saturday; there's no Sunday delivery.

Start with our birthday flowers, or find the town you're sending to on our delivery cities page. Local florists occasionally swap a stem for one of similar style and value when a flower is short, so if one flower matters most, say so in the card or delivery note.

Other birth month flowers

February follows the January birth flower (carnation and snowdrop). Next comes the March birth flower, the daffodil, and you can see all twelve months in our birth month flowers guide.