Birth flower for April 8
Sweet pea
Meaning: Blissful goodbyes
In 1699 a Sicilian monk, Francesco Cupani, mailed seeds of the wild sweet pea to England, and the Victorians went wild for it, breeding frilly petals in every pastel shade. In Japan, Seiko Matsuda's 1982 hit Akai Sweet Pea sang of red sweet peas at a time when they barely existed, and breeders later created real ones.