Volume 1 opens with a floral offering, an anthology of 37 flowers, illustrated by the author with 12 flower portraits created for this book and 25 of her Literary Calligraphy® illustrations, pairing a hand-lettered presentation of the flower’s sentiment with a verse about the flower or the sentiment it represents. For example, the autumn crocus, meaning “growing old,” is paired with a line from a poem by Robert Browning, “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be,” which surrounds the author’s painting of the flower. This anthology follows a format established in Victorian language of flowers books. Each entry lists the flower’s common and botanical names, its meaning or sentiment, and a verse representing the flower or sentiment, followed by notes on the plant’s history and lore, and a brief scientific description of the plant and its habitat.

Volume 1 also includes two floral dictionaries: one arranged by flower with its associated meaning, and one arranged by meaning with its associated flower. Additional sections explore related traditions such as the Calendar of Flowers, Flower Dialogues, the Floral Fortune-Teller, Modifications of the Flower Language, and the Flower Clock, along with ten poems that specifically draw on the language of flowers, each with information on the poet and the poem’s publication history.

With its original illustrations, floral anthology, and poetry, Volume 1 is as lovely to look at as it is to read. The dual dictionaries offer an accessible and elegant reference to the tradition of associating flowers with symbolic meanings.