There are many types of the Morning Glory flower, and while some flower at night, and some during the morning hours, all are beautiful.
It’s worth noting that if you do want morning glory vines in your garden – be very careful where you plant them, as in some places they are classified as invasive, and they will shortly take over whatever space you want to put them in.
While the morning glory has a famously short-lived flower, this bloom has a lot of weighty symbolism behind it.
What does Morning Glory Mean?
The common name of this flower refers to how most varieties are at their best in their morning, as new flowers often reach full bloom, and fade as the day goes on.
The scientific name for the flower is Ipomoea, which translates from Greek to mean “resembling woodworm”, referring to the vine’s habit of twining around whatever they can reach.
What does a Morning Glory Flower Symbolize?
Like the symbolism behind any flower, the meaning of a morning glory depends on both the color of the flower and the culture you’re looking at.
The morning glory flower often symbolizes the fleeting nature of life, as well as love or deep affection which won’t come to anything good.
What does a White Morning Glory Flower Represent?
A white morning glory bloom refers to innocence, purity, and remembrance, like most white flowers.
What does a Red Morning Glory Flower Mean?
Red morning glory flowers represent love, desire, passion, and a strong will.
What does a Pink Morning Glory Flower Signify?
Pink morning glory flowers stand for affection, romance, and a thoughtful gift, or a thank you in return for someone’s kindness or their help.
What does a Blue Morning Glory Flower Represent?
Blue morning glories represent respect, the faith you have in someone, and how you are there for someone, no matter what.
What does a Purple Morning Glory Flower Signify?
Purple flowers often represent luxury, nobility, beauty, and royalty, and the purple morning glory is no exception to this.
If anything, it’s a more significant interpretation, as the flowers are so short-lived, while the plant produces a lot of blooms, they are all the more precious a gift.
What is the Cultural Significance Behind the Morning Glory Flower?
To the Victorians, the morning glory flower represents love that has never had a chance to end – because it never truly began. It represents unrequited love, which still has an effect on someone or their behavior toward someone else.
It’s also believed that because the morning glory flower is so short-lived, each flower represents a life, basking in the day, fleeting.
It can also represent the short nature of affection, if it’s unreciprocated. In this way, the flowers also symbolize the restoring power of love, as new flowers are grown every day during the flowering period.
In Japanese culture, the morning glory flower is often a gift between lovers, as it represents innocence and love.
In China, there’s a popular folklore story about the morning glory vine. In order to see each other more, two lovers neglected their duties. This angered the gods.
The lovers were banished to separate sides of a wide river bank, and they could only meet for a single day during the span of a year.
As the plant has an impressive ability to climb on pretty much anything, this struck a chord with people, relating to the flower in that love often overcomes the greatest of boundaries.
What does a Morning Glory Flower Tattoo Mean?
Morning glory flowers are popular subjects in tattoos. The plants themselves form an interesting image as they ramble, so they’re often depicted as naturalistic as possible in a beautiful display.
Morning glory tattoos can represent someone you care very deeply about, and how your lives are entwined – impossible to separate by time, distance, or death.
The morning glory flowers can also be used in tattoos as a reminder of how fragile and how precious life is.
It can be a memento for a memory close to someone’s heart, and a reminder to enjoy the moment – whatever the moment currently is, even if that’s more stressful than you would want in an ideal world.
When Should You Give Someone a Morning Glory Flower?
While this flower is very short-lived – only usually lasting a day without artificial help, this flower is no less beautiful or meaningful than longer-lived flowers.
Morning glory flowers are a perfect gift for someone who has their birthday in September, as it’s the birth month (see also 12 Months Of Birth Flowers) for that flower.
Morning glory flowers are a message to keep being resilient and stubborn when it comes to achieving your wildest dreams, as these vines often climb up the most unlikely of places and still manage to thrive.
