
In Alice in Wonderland, flowers play a significant role in both the book and the 1951 animated film adaptation. In Chapter 8 of the book, Alice in Wonderland, Alice encounters talking flowers in a garden, including a tiger lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and a larkspur. In this scene, the flowers mistake Alice for another flower and engage in conversation with her. This scene inspired the song Painting Flowers by All Time Low, which is featured on the Almost Alice soundtrack for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The song alludes to the scene in which Alice helps the Red Queen's card guards paint white roses red to avoid losing their heads. The flowers also appear in the 1951 animated film, where they sing the song The Golden Afternoon. The flowers in Alice in Wonderland have been associated with various symbolic meanings, such as passion, love, and confidentiality.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year | 1951 |
| Title | "Painting the Roses Red" |
| Based on | Chapter VIII of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Symbolism | The colour red represents extremes, violence, fury, and blood; roses symbolize passion and love |
| Song | "Painting the Roses Red" |
| Characters | Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, cards/gardeners |
| Plot | The gardeners/cards are painting the roses red because the Queen hates white roses |
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What You'll Learn

The Flowers are introduced in *Through the Looking Glass*
The Flowers are introduced in Chapter 2 of Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel *Through the Looking-Glass*, which is subtitled "The Garden of Live Flowers". Alice meets a range of flowers with distinct personalities, including a tiger-lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and a larkspur. These flowers can talk, and they mistake Alice for another flower. The tiger-lily is the first to speak to Alice, explaining that she and the other flowers can talk because the garden bed is hard. The flowers also tell Alice about the protective tree in the middle of the garden, which can bark and say "bough-wough", hence the name "boughs" for branches.
Alice is insulted by the flowers, who comment on her appearance and tell her she is not very clever. The rose and the violet are particularly rude, with the rose telling Alice that she is the wrong colour and her "petals don't curl enough". Alice threatens to pick the daisies if they don't stop shouting. The tiger-lily reprimands the other flowers for their rudeness and tells Alice about another flower that can move like her—the Red Queen. Alice decides to go and meet the Red Queen, leaving the flowers behind.
The flowers that Alice encounters in *Through the Looking-Glass* are distinct from the flowers in the "Painting the Roses Red" scene in the 1951 film adaptation of *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*. In this scene, Alice discovers the Queen of Hearts' card guards painting the white roses in her garden red because they had mistakenly planted the wrong colour, and the Queen hates white roses. This scene inspired the song "Painting Flowers" by All Time Low, which appears on the Almost Alice soundtrack for Tim Burton's *Alice in Wonderland*.
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Alice meets a tiger lily, rose, daisy, violet, and larkspur
In *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, Alice meets a variety of talking flowers, including a tiger lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and a larkspur. This encounter takes place in Chapter VIII, titled "Painting Flowers", of the novel.
Alice first encounters the flowers in a garden, where they mistake her for a type of flower that can move. She initially speaks to a Tiger Lily, who introduces her to the other flowers. The flowers tell Alice about the tree in the middle of the garden, and the daisies explain that it says "Bough-wough," which is why branches are called boughs.
The violet is rude to Alice, telling her that she has never seen anyone look stupider. The rose, however, is more friendly and tells Alice about another flower that looks like her but is redder, with shorter petals and thorns on her head. This flower, as Alice discovers, is the Red Queen, with her hair resembling petals and the points of her crown resembling thorns.
The scene of painting flowers also appears in the 1951 animated film adaptation of *Alice in Wonderland*, titled "Painting the Roses Red". In this version, Alice encounters the Queen of Hearts' card guards painting the white roses in her garden red because the Queen dislikes white roses. Alice offers to help them paint the roses red, joining in the song "Painting the Roses Red".
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The flowers mistake Alice for a flower
In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There", Alice encounters sentient and talking flowers who mistake her for one of their own. Alice first meets them in the garden, where they mistake her for a type of flower that can move. The first flower she makes contact with is a Tiger-lily, who gets the other flowers straight. Alice is so astonished that she is left speechless for a minute. She then asks the flowers if they can all talk. The Tiger-lily responds: "As well as you can, and a great deal louder".
Alice then asks the flowers if they are ever frightened when no one takes care of them. The rose tells her that there is another flower that can move like her and looks like her, but she is redder, her "petals are shorter", and she wears her thorns on her head. The larkspur tells her that this flower is the Red Queen, and her hair is her petals and the thorn is the point of her crown. Alice decides to go and meet the Red Queen, leaving the flowers behind.
The encounter with the flowers is an example of Carroll's use of linguistic wordplay and his interest in botany. The name ""Alice" is a flower name, and Carroll may have chosen it specifically for this scene. In British and Irish dialects, female names are often associated with flowers, such as Margaret (ox-tail lily) and Mary. Carroll was also studying botany at the time, which may have influenced his decision to include talking flowers in the story.
The flowers' mistake of Alice for a flower is a theme of interchangeability, where people's names are interchangeable with flowers. This is seen in the flowers' dialogue, where they discuss Alice's appearance in terms of petals and colour. The flowers' ability to talk and their sentience add to the surreal and whimsical nature of Wonderland, highlighting Alice's journey into a world where nothing is as it seems.
The flowers also appear in the 1951 animated film adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland". They are shown as having faces, but only a rose talks. The flowers sing a song called "The Golden Afternoon".
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The flowers sing All in the Golden Afternoon
The song "All in the Golden Afternoon" appears in the 1951 Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland. It is sung by Alice and the Flowers of Wonderland, including a rose, an iris, a daisy, pansies, tulips, sweet peas, blue bonnets, violets, a calla lily, a lily of the valley, a lilac, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, morning glories, daffodils, a tiger lily, a dandelion, a white rose, a thistle, and a yellow daisy.
The song is about the flowers and is sung when Alice first meets them in their garden. She tries to befriend them, but when they ask what kind of flower she is and she says she is not one of them, they are disgusted, causing her to change her attitude.
The lyrics of the song are as follows:
> Flowers: Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips
> And the sun is like a toy balloon
> There are get up in the morning glories
> In the golden afternoon
> There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside
> Strings of violets are all in tune
> Tiger lilies love the dandy lions
> In the golden afternoon
> (The golden afternoon)
> There are dog and caterpillars and the copper centipede
> Where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead...
> You can learn a lot of things from the flowers
> For especially in the month of June
>
> White Rose: There's a wealth of happiness and romance
> All in the golden afternoon
>
> Chorus: All in the golden afternoon
> The golden afternoon...
>
> Alice: You can learn a lot of things from the flowers
> For especially in the month of June
> There's a wealth of happiness and romance
> All—(Voice breaking)
>
> Flowers: The golden afternoon!
The song "Painting Flowers" by the American pop-punk band All Time Low also talks about some of the events in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, including the scene in Chapter 8 where Alice helps the Red Queen's card guards paint white flowers red.
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The flowers chase Alice out of their garden
Alice's encounter with the flowers in the garden is a memorable scene from both the novel and various adaptations of "Alice in Wonderland." While the specifics vary across different interpretations, the underlying theme involves Alice's interaction with talking flowers, which ultimately leads to a tense situation involving the Queen of Hearts.
In the novel, "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," Alice first meets a variety of flowers in a garden, including a tiger-lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and a larkspur. The flowers come to life and speak to her, initially mistaking Alice for another type of flower that can move. Alice asks them if they are afraid when no one takes care of them, and they respond by directing her attention to a tree in the middle of the garden. The flowers, especially the daisies, also share their knowledge about the origin of the word "bough." However, when the flowers make shrill voices, Alice whispers that she will pick them if they don't quiet down, causing them to stop.
In the 1951 animated film adaptation, Alice encounters a similar scenario in the Queen of Hearts' garden. She comes across a group of cards painting the roses red. Intrigued, Alice asks them why they are doing so. The cards explain that they had mistakenly planted white roses, which are despised by the Queen, and they fear losing their heads if she finds out. This scene, known as "Painting the Roses Red," is a song-filled moment that highlights the whimsical and absurd nature of Wonderland.
The flowers' interaction with Alice in the garden sets the tone for further exploration of the unpredictable and often dangerous world she has entered. It showcases the surreal nature of Wonderland, where even flowers can talk and sing, and where a simple mistake like planting the wrong colour roses can lead to dire consequences.
As Alice continues her adventures, she encounters more peculiar situations and characters, including the infamous Queen of Hearts, who is quick to sentence people to execution, creating a sense of tension and absurdity that permeates the story.
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Frequently asked questions
"Painting Flowers" by All Time Low.
The song references events that happened in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, including the feelings Alice encountered.
In Chapter 8 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice helps the Red Queen's card guards paint white roses red.
The gardeners mistakenly planted white roses, which the Queen hates, so they are hastily covering their mistake by painting the roses red.
In the 1951 animated film, Alice meets a tiger-lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and a larkspur that can talk.











































