Human Flower Project

About

The Human Flower Project is an international newsgroup, photo album and discussion of the connection between people and flowers.

I am a writer in Austin, TX. Working on a book about Texas flower customs, I began the weblog in September 2004, with help from dear friends and two wizards at pmachine.com, Leslie and Chris. Coming from a background in sociology, literature, and journalism, my primary flower interests run along those lines. What are your interests? Making daily posts, I want to share this space with anyone who has observations, photos or stories about how the lives of people and flowers intersect.

Please post comments (it’s easy) or send submissions of photos and/or commentary to

From the mourners of a Neanderthal man buried with flowers in 60,000 B.C.. to today’s megawatt floral designers on HGTV, people have turned to flowers out of anxiety, necessity and joy.

By studying flowers, we look into human emotion and value. Since the flower trade is global, and has been for centuries, by following the circuit of plants across the world, we track international relations and economics.

Seeing how artists represent flowers, we re-experience what it is to be living temporarily, alongside life in many forms different from ourselves.

Welcome!

Julie Ardery

In a roadside cutting garden, near Lautrec, France
Photo: Bill Bishop