"To win the trophy of enchanting grace:
Ranks of Carnations, to all ladies dear,
Of whose sweet taste I write approval here,
For these pre-eminent myself I think,
As long as you don't overdue the pink."
-  Ruth Pitter, 1897-1992, Other People's Glasshouses, 1941

"The Chrysanthemum, the Flower of Happiness, was so revered that in Japan only the nobles could grow it.  It has been grown for over 2,000 years all throughout in the Far East.  It has come to mean love and truthfulness.  We may see it carved on the throne of the Emperor of Japan and on many Chinese artifacts."
-   Flowers: Myths, Legends and Traditions 

"The chrysanthemum, also known as the "Autumn Flower", is one of the four "honourable plants". The others are plum, orchid and bamboo which are symbols of nobility. In most ancient essays and poems, writers use the terms "jade bone, icy body, pearl petal and red heart" to describe the flower. For on cold autumn days, when all other flowers were fading away, only the chrysanthemum was able to flourish in the cold winds. The combination of beauty with strong character made an ideal personality in the eyes of romantic Chinese scholars."
-  Chrysanthemum - Flower of Honor

"Fair gift of Friendship! and her ever bright
And faultless image! welcome now thou art,
In thy pure loveliness--thy robes of white,
Speaking a moral to the feeling heart;
Unscattered by heats--by wintry blasts unmoved--
Thy strength thus tested--and thy charms improved."
-  Anna Peyre Dinnies, To a White Chrysanthemum

"Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."
-  Shakespeare, Winters Tale, Act IV, Sc. 3, Line 118

"Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,
Who, armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God."
-  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Iris 

"In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
-  Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Since Iris is the Greek goddess for the Messenger of Love, her sacred flower is considered the symbol of communication and messages.  Greek men would often plant an iris on the graves of their beloved women as a tribute to the goddess Iris, whose duty it was to take the souls of women to the Elysian fields."  
-  Hana No Monogatari: The Stories of Flowers

Lavender

Lavender - Google Search

Lavender - Wikipedia

Lilac

Lilac - Google Search 

Lilac (Syringa) - Wikipedia  

"Cavalier and foreign bred, 
Quite a catch but never wed, 
Monsieur Lilac looks astute, 
Tall and regal in his suit. 
He bereaves me of all words, 
Matters not, quite how absurd, 
In his bowtie and silk cape 
Of respectful, deepest grape ...
Pervading me like a musk, 
Possessing me dawn 'til dusk."
-  Susan Crowe, French Lilac

Lily

Bills Hemerocallis:  Daylily Page

Daylilies Growing on the Information Highway

The Daylily Place

Friends of the Daylilies 

Gardener's Guide to Growing Lilies.   By Michael Jefferson-Brown.

Lily - Google Search

Lily (Lilium) - Wikipedia  

"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other."
-  Chinese proverb

"Lone and erect, beneath light's primal flood,
A lily!  and pure as any one of you."
-  Mallarme  

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
-  Bible, Matthew, 6:28-29

"The lily was created on the third day, early in the morning when the Almighty was especially full of good ideas."   
-  Michael Jefferson-Brown

Marigold

Marigold - Google Search

Marigold (Tagetes) - Wikipedia 

"Open afresh your rounds of starry folds,
Ye ardent Marigolds."
-  John Keats