When you think of cheerful flowers, yellow blooms are surely the first that come to mind. The colour instantly brightens up a room and can quickly turn a bad day into a good one!
Many of the world’s most popular flowers come in varying shades of this sunshine hue, from wildflowers to perennials. Join us as we find out all about yellow flowers, their meanings, and the different varieties.
What Do Yellow Flowers Mean?
Yellow is a unique colour for blossoms as it symbolises strong bonds of friendship. The hue is also a celebratory colour and can represent feelings of pride, success and accomplishment. As a result, yellow flowers are often gifted to those who’ve just graduated or reached another major achievement, like a wedding anniversary.
Of course, the colour is also associated with joy. Both small yellow flowers and big ones can bring the greatest joy to whoever they’re gifted to.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the world’s most popular yellow flowers.
Daffodil
Daffodils are yellow perennials that grow to about 41 centimetres in height. Each plant has five or six linear leaves that measure up to about 30 centimetres long.
Daffodil stems usually have a single flower that features a corolla deeply cleft into six lobes. They also boast bell-shaped crowns frilled at the edges. These cheerful yellow flowers are the birth flowers for March.
Yellow Iris
Another yellow perennial, the yellow Iris measures about three feet tall. This wildflower consists of large erect basal leaves and a flowering stalk.
The leaves are generally taller than the stalk and join together at the base, which is where the stalk emerges from.
Black-Eyed Susan
Native to North America, Black-Eyed Susans are members of the aster family and are so named because of the dark brown at the centres of their daisy-like flower heads.
These plants can grow to over three feet in height with flowers measuring two to three inches in diameter. They attract bees, butterflies and a variety of other insects.
Evening Primrose
These yellow wildflowers are often used for medicinal purposes. Evening primrose has its oil extracted from the plant’s seeds and made into capsules containing gamma-linolenic acid. These capsules can treat everything from blood pressure to PMS!
Yellow Jessamine
Commonly referred to as yellow jasmine, yellow jessamine is admired for their sweet scent and canary yellow flowers.
These trumpet-shaped blooms measure about an inch and a half in length. They usually grow in small clusters alongside glossy green foliage which bronzes in the winter months.
Daylily
Despite this yellow blossom’s name, it is not actually a member of the lily family. Daylilies have long been bred for their beautiful flowers that are big and trumpet-like. There are thousands of different cultivars of daylilies available, and yellow is just one of the hues these blooms come in.
Gladiolus
Another yellow perennial, the gladiolus flower, also known as sword lily, makes for an eye-catching addition to any garden. These plants boast spectacular spikes of funnel-shaped flowers throughout the summer months. They are fairly easy to grow and work very well as border plants. Gladiolus is the birth month flower for August.
Sunflowers
These massive blossoms look almost like a long green tree with yellow flowers at the top. They grow in masses and are so named because the blooms look just like the sun on top of their long stalks. The flowers also open up when they face the sun.
Dutch Hyacinth
Hyacinth’s yellow flowers are bright and heavily scented. The blossoms mostly cover the stem of the plant in a multitude of florets and were originally developed from the Hyacinthus orientalis, a species that dates back to 1562.
Gerbera Daisy
These yellow wildflowers are native to South Africa. They’re commonly grown for their bright, cheerful flowers that look like big daisies. These blossoms can measure anywhere from two to 13 centimetres in diameter.
Tulip
Yellow tulips are perennial blooms with large, showy, brightly coloured flowers. They’re famed all over the Netherlands but actually originate in Turkey. The yellow variety of tulips tend to have a different coloured blotch at the base of their petals and sepals, and each colour of tulip has its own meaning.
Yellow Butterfly Bush
The yellow butterfly bush is a brightly coloured shrub that boasts graceful arching branches. Its clusters of flowers are sweet scented and are so named because butterflies favour them.
Yellow Hibiscus
The hibiscus is Hawaii’s state flower and is native to the island. While popular, this tree with yellow flowers is also rare, and listed as an endangered plant in the United States.
Dahlia
Yellow dahlias are related to sunflowers, daisies, chrysanthemums and zinnias. These flowers grow from small tubers best planted in the springtime. They can range in size from pompoms measuring just two inches to giant “dinner plate” blooms that measure up to 15 inches. Most varieties of dahlias can grow up to five feet tall.
Ausmus
Ausmus, also known as shrub roses, are evergreen plants. They have thorny stems that bear leaves and either solitary or clustered yellow flowers. These flowers are wonderfully fragrant and can grow to be quite large in the summer and autumn months.
Snapdragon
Snapdragon plants bloom bright, vibrant yellow flowers. They are particularly fruitful in cooler climates and stand out beautifully in spring and autumn gardens. Snapdragon flowers are quite unique in that they start to bloom at the bottom of the stalk and then work their way up, allowing for a long period of bloom. They do, however, tend to stop blooming in the full heat of summer. Keeping them well watered is key to keeping them perked up in the garden all year round.
Asiatic Lily
Yellow Asiatic lilies don’t have much of a fragrance, but they are known for adding dashes of colour to gardens around the world. They first bloom in the early months of summer and are generally easy to maintain, as long as they are grown in well-draining soil. Of all the types of lilies, Asiatic lilies are the shortest and grow to a maximum of three feet in height.
Chrysanthemum
It can be challenging to find a flower more striking than the chrysanthemum. Native to East Asia, there are countless horticultural varieties and cultivars of this yellow flower. The blooms are quite big, and the colour is quite intense. These plants start to bloom in autumn and have alternately arranged leaves divided into leaflets with toothed and occasionally smoother edges.
Yellow Rose
As the most easily identifiable and recognisable flower in the world, roses have elegant petals that come in a variety of striking colours. There are currently over 300 species of roses and tens of thousands of different cultivars.
Calla Lily
Calla lilies are best planted three to four inches into the soil and grow well in gardens and in containers. They don’t need to be watered all too often, only when their soil is slightly dry. They are likely to start blooming within eight weeks after planting and will blossom for a good few months.
Alstroemeria
More commonly known as the Peruvian lily, Alstroemeria plants bear yellow flowers that are native to South America. However, they have become naturalised in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Madeira and the Canary Islands. These yellow perennials are generally long-lived.
Yellow Marigold
Yellow marigolds are perhaps the most cheerful small yellow flowers imaginable. With each bloom, marigolds bring plenty of gold, copper and brassy shades of yellow into autumn gardens. However, the flower doesn’t only bloom at this time of the year – it’s so popular because of its ability to bloom brightly all through summer.
Yellow Yarrow
The yarrow flower goes by several different names, including ‘nosebleed plant’ and ‘old man’s pepper’. In southwestern US states, the flower is also referred to as “little feather” in Spanish due to its leaf shape and texture. It’s said that the best time to plant these flowers is during autumn. Yarrow plans can reach a height of three feet.
Craspedia
Craspedia flowers are also a member of the daisy family. These small yellow flowers are native to Australia and New Zealand and can grow in a number of different environments.
Yellow Zinnia
Zinnia is one of the easiest annuals to grow and they bear bright, unique flowers. Butterflies and hummingbirds are very attracted to these cheery flowers. They grow reliably and quickly, which makes them a great choice for beginner gardeners.
Goldenrod
This flowering plant is often used as an herbal supplement. It has always been believed to have medicinal value and gets its name from its clusters of small yellow flowers.
Yellow Begonia
Begonia’s are often thought to resemble roses as they boast rows of packed bright yellow petals. They bloom in the later months of spring and can measure up to 10 centimetres in width.
Cowslip
Cowslips are one of spring’s best known yellow wildflowers. They are cup-shaped and grow in a nodding cluster on long stalks. The plants boast oval-shaped wrinkled leaves much like primrose plants.
Golden Chain Tree
Golden Chain Trees are often considered to be the Goldilocks of the plant world. They’re actually a member of the pea family and known for not liking colder climates at all. For optimal floral display, these trees with yellow flowers should be planted in moderate climates.
Next time you’re looking for cheerful yellow flowers for a bouquet or blooms to brighten up your garden on a rainy day, pick any of the blooms on this list!