Play it With Flowers - Great Music Inspired by Nature

To coincide with the launch of our new botanical range of super-sized outdoor musical flowers – Harmony Flowers and Harmony Bells – we thought we’d look a little closer to how the world of nature, and in particular flowers, stems out into music and popular culture.

Flowers have long provided inspiration for a lot of artists, from legendary painters like Claude Monet to fashion designers such as Christian Dior. Considered universally beautiful, this botanical inspiration is usually expressed in a visual form, however with their bright colours, and unique designs (as well as the feelings they evoke), flowers are equally inspiring musically - motivating and colouring the music we create. The choice of arrangement can signify the occasion - flowers can bring happiness, and can also mark occasions of solemnity much in the way that music does.

Many famous musicians use flowers as a focal point for their lyrics or compositions. For as long as people have been writing songs, they’ve been using flowers as metaphors, props and symbols for life, love and death.

Flowers have made an appearance in countless musical hits and songs throughout the years and even today, blooms continue to be a primary theme in music with a plethora of hit ‘floral’ songs released every year. Flowers in music often represent a romance, regardless of whether that romance is blossoming or wilting away.

Over the years there have been a lot of songs about buttercups, daisies, tulips and other beautiful flowers, however, not all of them are created equal. So which flower do you think is the most popular, featuring most frequently in pop and rock? Well, unsurprisingly there are more songs about roses than any other flower, with a conservative estimate of around 62% of all ‘flower’ songs being centered around roses. Think ‘Bed Of Roses’ - Bon Jovi, ‘Black Rose’ - Thin Lizzy, ‘Desert Rose’ Sting, ‘The Rose’ Bette Midler and of course Seal’s three times grammy-winning ‘Kiss From a Rose’ ( 1996 Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance).

So it seems nature, with all its fauna and flora (and particularly flora), still plays a crucial role in the creative expression we as humans use to understand and explain our existence and the world around us. Flowers are among the most radiant things in nature and if we take a moment to step outside and examine what surrounds us, we’re bound to expand our understanding of what we love - adding depth to the music we make.

We sincerely hope that our new musical flowers Harmony Flowers and Harmony Bells, along with our existing portfolio of outdoor musical instruments will create a new and exciting way to encourage people of all ages and abilities to step outside and find harmony in the great outdoors.