Church Flowers for the Annunciation

UPDATED MARCH 20, 2026:  I updated this post today to highlight the liturgical context.

I've put up various posts about flowers related to the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord (upcoming on March 25).  This post is an effort to integrate the series.

First, it should be noted that although this feast is not a holy day of obligation, it is one of the most important in the Church. It is essential to bear in mind that the Annunciation was when the incarnation actually took place -- after Mary gave her fiat.  This is when Our Lord was made flesh, although He was not visible to the world until the Nativity.

Secondly, it is not just a feast but a Solemnity - the highest sort of feast day. And, along with Laetare Sunday, other solemnities and certain feasts, it is an exception to the general rule that there should be no church flowers during Lent.  (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, section 305.)

Third, although Our Lady was very much a part of the Annunciation, and we celebrate her role, it is interesting to note that according to the current liturgical calendar, this is a feast of Our Lord. Thus, formally speaking, it is not technically a Marian feast day by the modern calendar.  Perhaps that is a distinction without a difference since in a devotional sense it certainly is a Marian feast day and historically it was so considered.

As a feast of Our Lord, the liturgical color is white.  McClinton (who I think must have been a high-church Anglican), states that the feast of the Annunciation "calls for blue and white flowers.  White iris or Madonna lilies are appropriate and can be used together with blue iris or Delphinium."

If you are thinking of using white flowers, see the post White Flowers for Church Decoration for ideas.  Also see Gemma's post on flowers for Marian feast days, which includes some blue flowers.

McClinton's old English table of flowers associates the following blooms with this feast day:

Madonna lily (same as Annunciation lily)
Daffodil (Mary's Star)
Marigold
White iris
Narcissus (see Daffodil)
Almond blossom
Our Lady's Smock

I've done posts on most of these flowers which you can find via the above links.

You can find some interesting lore about practices during this feast day here.  And you can find the history of the feast day here

Image:  Blue delphinium - Photograph by Andreas Fink.  From Wikimedia Commons.  Click for license.

Source for text:  Katherine Morrison McClinton, Flower Arrangement in the Church (Morehouse-Gorham Co., 1958), pp. 45, 93.)