The April birth flowers are the daisy and the sweet pea. The daisy is the small white flower with a yellow center that dots spring lawns; the sweet pea is a climbing annual with ruffled, strongly scented blooms. By tradition the daisy stands for innocence and true love, and the sweet pea for gratitude and a fond goodbye.
What is the birth flower for April?
April has two, and the daisy is the older choice. A table of the months printed in the United States in 1913, in George Frederick Kunz's The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, already gave April the daisy. The sweet pea joined it on later charts. There has never been an official list, which is why most months ended up with a pair. See our guide to birth flowers by month for all twelve.
Enter a birth date below to see its flowers, its birthstone, its zodiac sign and the day of the week.
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Daisy: what it looks like and when it blooms
The daisy of the birthday lists is the English daisy, Bellis perennis, a low perennial native to Europe.
- Size. Only 3 to 6 inches tall (8 to 15 cm).
- Flower. White rays around a yellow center. Garden forms are also pink or red, and some are fully double.
- Season. Spring to early summer, with a few flowers until frost. It fades in summer heat.
- Habit. It spreads easily and often moves from flower beds into lawns, where many gardeners treat it as a weed.
Each "flower" is really a whole head of flowers. The yellow center is a mass of tiny disc florets, and each white "petal" is a ray floret. The daisy belongs to the aster family, the same family as sunflowers.
The name is Old English for "day's eye." The flower head opens in the morning and closes at night.
Many other plants are called daisies. The Old Farmer's Almanac names the oxeye, Shasta and gerbera daisies as the most common garden kinds. They are different species, but florists use them freely for April birthdays, and nobody will mind.
Sweet pea: what it looks like and when it blooms
The sweet pea is Lathyrus odoratus, an annual in the bean family from southern Italy, Sicily and Crete. The species name means "fragrant."
- Size. A climber that reaches up to 8 feet (2.4 m) on a support, holding on with tendrils. Bush forms stay near 3 feet (90 cm).
- Flower. Ruffled, pea-shaped blooms in pink, red, white, purple and more, with a sweet scent often compared to honey and orange blossom.
- Season. Spring to early summer. Sweet peas like cool weather and stop flowering in heat.
According to the Almanac, a Sicilian monk, Francis Cupani, found the plant in the late 1600s and sent seeds to botanists in Amsterdam and England. Breeders in the 1800s then produced the large, colorful flowers grown today.
It is a relative of the garden pea, but it is not a food plant.
What do the April birth flowers mean?
The meanings come from the Victorian language of flowers, in which each bloom carried a message. The books of the period often disagreed, and even one book could give a flower two meanings. The table sets Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers (London, 1884) beside the readings the Almanac gives now.
| Flower | In Greenaway, 1884 | Common reading today |
|---|---|---|
| Daisy | "Innocence" | Innocence, purity, true love |
| Daisy, garden | "I share your sentiments" | (not separated today) |
| Daisy, wild | "I will think of it" | (not separated today) |
| Daisy, white | (not listed) | Purity and innocence |
| Daisy, yellow | (not listed) | Joy and friendship |
| Daisy, pink | (not listed) | Affection |
| Daisy, red | (not listed) | Love and romance |
| Sweet pea | "Delicate pleasures"; also "Departure" | A goodbye, a thank-you, good wishes |
A few traditions sit behind those words. Because the daisy head is two kinds of flower working as one, it became a symbol of true love. It was also a flower passed between friends to say that a secret was safe. In France, sweet peas were a traditional gift to a bride for luck.
None of this is a statement about people born in April. It is a custom, and a gentle one.
Are daisies and sweet peas safe around pets and children?
- Sweet peas. NC State Extension states that sweet pea seeds and pods are poisonous to people and should not be planted near edible peas, where they could be picked by mistake. The ASPCA's sweet pea entry, which covers the closely related perennial pea, lists it as toxic to horses.
- English daisies. NC State Extension notes that eating the plant may cause stomach upset. The ASPCA's entry named "daisy" refers to chrysanthemums, which are a different plant.
Keep seed packets and pods away from children, and do not use either flower in food. If a child or a pet eats part of the plant, call a doctor, a poison control center or a veterinarian.
How to give April's birth flowers
- A bunch of sweet peas. They are among the most fragrant cut flowers of spring. A small jar of them scents a room.
- A daisy bouquet. Larger daisies such as Shastas or gerberas have the stems for a vase. English daisies are better as a pot or a tray of plants.
- Seeds. A packet of sweet pea seeds is a classic gardener's present, to be sown in early spring.
- A drawing, print or tattoo design. The daisy is one of the simplest flowers to draw: a round center and a ring of narrow rays. The sweet pea is drawn as a curling stem with tendrils and two or three winged blooms.
- With the stone. April's birthstone is diamond, and white daisies suit it. See our April birthstone page.
How to keep them fresh and grow your own
For cut flowers, University of Illinois Extension advises trimming about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from the stems with a clean, sharp blade, using a clean vase, removing leaves below the water line, and changing the water every two to three days. Keep the vase cool, at 65 to 72°F (18 to 22°C).
To grow sweet peas, sow in early spring in full sun and rich, well-drained soil, and give climbers a trellis or fence. Pick the flowers often: the plant slows down once seed pods form.
English daisies like sun with afternoon shade and cool, moist soil. Plants raised from seed usually flower the following season.
Next in the calendar: May's lily of the valley and hawthorn. Before it: March's daffodil and jonquil.