If you have a birthday to celebrate this month, there are two blooms worth knowing about: the water lily and the larkspur. As aĀ florist in Malvern, Tanya and the team at The Bloom Room love matching a birthday gift to the story behind it, and Julyās birth flowers have some of the richest symbolism of the whole year. Both blooms carry a watery, dreamy quality that fits neatly with July babies and their Cancerian instincts for depth, intuition and quiet strength. Whether youāre shopping for someone born this month or simply curious about the meaning behind the flowers on your kitchen bench, this guide walks through everything worth knowing about the water lily and the larkspur.
Why Does July Have Two Birth Flowers?
Most months are assigned a single birth flower, but July shares its spotlight between two very different blooms. The water lily brings a sense of calm and mystery, floating serenely on still water, while the larkspur stands tall and vivid, often reaching well over a metre in a garden bed. Together they capture two sides of the July personality: reflective and introspective on one hand, expressive and joyful on the other. Itās this contrast that makes Julyās birth flowers such a compelling gift idea, because you can lean into whichever meaning feels most fitting for the person youāre celebrating.
The Water Lily: A Flower Born From Stillness
Water lilies belong to the Nymphaeaceae family and are native to warm, still waters across the Amazon basin, though today youāll find varieties growing in ponds, lakes and ornamental water features around the world, including here in Melbourne. Unlike almost every other flower in a floristās cooler, the water lily doesnāt grow from soil at all. Its roots anchor into the mud at the bottom of a pond, while the leaves and blooms rise to float gracefully on the surface. In the Australian climate, water lilies typically flower from spring through to early autumn, with each individual bloom lasting only a few days before it closes and sinks back beneath the surface.
Because of how they grow and where they thrive, water lilies have picked up a genuinely beautiful set of meanings over centuries of folklore. Theyāre often linked to rebirth and new beginnings, since each flower seems to emerge fresh from the water every morning. Their pale, unblemished petals have also made them a symbol of purity and grace. Perhaps the most poetic meaning, though, is enlightenment: a water lily grows up through murky, silty water yet arrives at the surface completely clean, with not a trace of the mud it came from. Itās a lovely metaphor for resilience and personal growth, which makes water lilies a thoughtful choice for anyone marking a milestone, a fresh start, or simply the passing of another year.
Colour adds another layer of meaning to this flower. White water lilies lean into themes of purity and clarity of mind, while purple varieties are associated with power and ambition. Red blooms speak to romance and deep affection, and blue water lilies are tied to wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge. Because true water lilies are delicate and rarely available as cut stems, theyāre not something youāll typically find sitting in a bouquet. Instead, they make a beautiful living gift in the form of a potted aquatic plant for a pond or an indoor water feature, something a July birthday person can enjoy blooming again and again for seasons to come.
The Larkspur: Julyās Bold Statement Bloom
Where the water lily is quiet, the larkspur is anything but. Also known botanically as delphinium, this is a tall, spike-shaped flower that can carry twenty or more individual blooms along a single stem, in shades ranging from true blue and violet through to soft pink and crisp white. Larkspurs are a summer-loving flower, and their height (some varieties reach close to two metres in the right conditions) makes them a favourite for cottage gardens and cutting gardens alike.
The name itself has an interesting backstory. āDelphiniumā comes from the Ancient Greek word for dolphin, a nod to the curved shape of the unopened flower bud, which early botanists thought resembled a dolphinās nose. The common name ālarkspurā arrived later, coined by English gardeners who saw a resemblance between the flowerās spur-shaped petal and the long back claw of a lark. With more than 300 species in cultivation, no two larkspur varieties look quite the same, and their symbolism is just as layered as their history.
Broadly, larkspurs are associated with three ideas: positive feeling, celebration, and protection. As a symbol of good cheer, theyāve long been given to mark happy occasions and to express warmth between friends and family. As a symbol of celebration, theyāre fitting for birthdays both big and small, not only milestone years. And as a symbol of protection, larkspurs carry a long folk history of being used to ward off harm, a tradition that adds a sense of care and good wishes to any bouquet they appear in.
Colour again shifts the meaning slightly. True blue larkspurs represent grace and dignity, light blue varieties speak to youth, renewal and remembrance, and purple stems lean into beauty and a touch of royal elegance. White larkspurs symbolise innocence and purity, while pink varieties are a soft nod to romance. Because larkspur holds its colour and shape beautifully as a cut flower, itās a stem youāll often see anchoring the tall centre of a birthday arrangement, giving height, drama and a genuine story to tell.
Celebrating a July Birthday the Bloom Room Way
At The Bloom Room, Tanya draws on more than two decades of floristry experience to bring these meanings into arrangements that feel personal rather than generic. A birthday bouquet built around larkspurās celebratory blue and violet tones, paired with seasonal wholesale-sourced blooms, makes a striking gift for a July birthday. For something a little more considered, our preserved flower arrangements, from $90, let a loved one enjoy the symbolism of the season long after the day itself has passed, while our signature Dior box arrangements, from $250, turn any birth flower story into a genuinely luxurious gift. Add a bottle of MoĆ«t & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot, or a CĆ“tĆ© Noire candle, and you have a present that feels as considered as the flowers themselves.
Whatever you choose, ordering is simple. We offer same day flower delivery in Malvern for orders placed before our 2PM cutoff, so a July birthday doesnāt have to mean planning weeks in advance. Give us a call on (03) 9572 2994 or drop into our Waverley Road studio, and weāll help you put together an arrangement that celebrates the water lilyās quiet grace or the larkspurās joyful spirit, whichever suits the birthday youāre celebrating.