*Flower Flash,* by Lewis Miller Design, 2018. Miller’s guerrilla installations of over-the-top blooms pop up in the most unprepossessing spaces of New York City: a disused post office, bus shelters, traffic signs, subways, and a trash can in front of the Met, photographed here by Raymond Meier.

*Azalea (Pressing),* by Cig Harvey, 2018. This deep-pink azalea pushes against a foggy windowpane, as captured by the British photographer.

*Alpine Flora,* by Theodor Josef Petter, 1853. Blooming in stages throughout the spring and summer, Alpine flowers have evolved to withstand habitats with rocky soil and often below-freezing temperatures.

*Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges),* by Ogata Kōrin, circa 1709. Designs based on irises were a recurring theme in the lacquerwork of the Japanese artist; here, they are depicted on folding screens.

*Pseudobombax Ellipticum,* by Andrew Zuckerman, 2012. The tropical shaving-brush tree, found in southern Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, takes its common name from the similarity of its flower to an old-fashioned shaving brush.

*Les Anémones,* by Paul Poiret for Atelier Martine, 1912. This eight-color floral pattern was designed in the early 20th century to be roller-printed onto large bolts of canvas and cloth. Bold textile designs such as this were the signatures of the master French couturière, who helped shape modern daywear.

*A Group of Auriculas,* by Philip Reinagle and Robert John Thornton, 1807. Set at the edge of a mountain forest, these auriculas are illustrated amid their native Alpine habitat.

A detail of *The English Rose,* by Luke Stephenson, 2019. Sixty-four modern varieties of England’s national flower are assembled by the British photographer into a vibrant grid.

*Untitled (Drama Queen),* by Sharon Core, 2014. The poppy’s original Latin name, *Papaver somniferum,* loosely translates to “drama queen.” As the head of one poppy arcs away from the viewer, another has opened, showing off its fleeting beauty. (Its stamens are already in the first stages of decay.)

*Untitled,* by Adam Fuss, 1994. At first glance, these scattered pansies may look like pressed flowers. But the American photographer has instead placed pansies directly onto Cibachrome paper and exposed them to light.

A detail from *Woven No. 28,* by Tanya Marcuse, 2018. Reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting or a medieval tapestry, this photograph shows a dense sea of roses, thistles, gooseneck loosestrife, foxgloves, and chrysanthemums, among other garden flowers and wildflowers.

In Bloom

Flowers from ancient to modern times inhabit a festive book of photographs and works on paper

Over the course of just a few days in 17th-century Amsterdam, tulip prices skyrocketed. It was the Dutch golden age, and a public spurred by the spring perennials’ fashionable reputation drove contract prices for their bulbs sky-high: for instance, a single bulb of the Viceroy tulip was traded for four oxen. A year later this bubble—widely considered to be the first speculative bubble in world history—burst, a rise and fall captured (if with some doubt as to the details) by Charles Mackay in his 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

Flower-mania has never again reached those levels, but our infatuation with pretty, sweet-smelling blossoms endures. A new book offers a history of floral motifs through the ages, from ancient Egyptian wall paintings to the Japanese art of ikebana, and onward to arrangements in modern-day New York City. Among the 300 images in the volume are works of art, illustration, sculpture, textile, and glass by an eclectic group that includes Ansel Adams, Cecil Beaton, Albrecht Dürer, Ellsworth Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Alexander McQueen, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Andy Warhol. The best part about it? No wilting. —Julia Vitale

Paintings and photos: Raymond Meier (Flower Flash); courtesy Cig Harvey (Azalea [Pressing]); Wikipedia CC (Alpine Flora); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Irises at Yatsuhasi [Eight Bridges]); Andrew Zuckerman (Pseudobombax Ellipticum); © MAD, Paris/Cyrille Bernard (Les Anémones); Biodiversity Heritage Library/Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library (A Group of Auriculas); © Luke Stephenson (detail from The English Rose); © Sharon Core (Untitled [Drama Queen]); courtesy the artist (Untitled); courtesy of the artist (detail from Woven No 28)