Snapdragon
Madame Butterfly
“The double-flowered snapdragon that's as useful in a vase as it is in the border. Warm, ruffled, and unexpectedly elegant.”
— ROSIE
Rosie's Take
There's something wonderfully old-fashioned about snapdragons — they're the kind of flower your nan grew and you played with as a child, squeezing the little mouths open and shut. 'Madame Butterfly' is the double-flowered variety, and it's a different creature entirely from those playground flowers.
The blooms are open-faced and ruffled, more like miniature azaleas stacked up a tall spike. They come in this gorgeous range — salmon, rose, yellow, burgundy, cream — and each stem has that lovely gradient effect where the colours shift as you move up the spike.
As cut flowers they're brilliant. They bring height and movement to an arrangement without being as rigid as a gladiolus or as wispy as a larkspur. And they last well — a good week and a half in the vase, sometimes more.
I pair them with dahlias in late summer and they're absolutely lovely together. There's a warmth to both flowers that just works. They're also wonderful with delphiniums if you want something more English garden — all those spires at different heights, catching the light differently.
Where to Buy
If you want to try snapdragon for yourself, here's where I'd point you:
“Flower Station carry snapdragons through the summer months and their stems tend to be nice and long — perfect for tall arrangements.”
Order This Flower →“Bloom & Wild sometimes slip snapdragons into their seasonal boxes — it's always a nice surprise when they do.”
Order This Flower →✿ From the folklore cabinet
Snapdragons were hung over doors in medieval England to ward off witchcraft and curses — apparently the little faces were meant to frighten evil spirits. I think those spirits just hadn't met the 'Madame Butterfly' variety, which is about as threatening as a silk scarf.
