January brings the snow,

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

Sara Coleridge, "The Months," Pretty Lessons In Verse, For Good Children

A little history on Carnations

The earliest mention of carnations was in connection with the Crusaders, who were stricken with the plague near Tunis in the thirteenth  century. The drank wine mixed with leaves of the pink carnations to help control their raging fevers. 

Carnations were called the flower of flowers in ancient Greece and the genus name means "divine flower" because of it beauty and fragrance. 

An Italian legend tells of a young woman, Margherita , who fell in love with a knight, Orlando. Orlando was called to war and carried with him a white carnation that Margherita gave him. When Orlando was mortally wounded, his blood stained the center of the flower. The flower was returned to heartbroken Margherita, who planted the seeds. Every flower that came from these seeds was white with crimson centers. Margherita never married and it became customary in her family to bring a vase of carnations to each baby girl born into the family.

In the Victorian language of flowers, 

Yellow carnation means disdain and rejection,

Purple carnation signifies antipathy and capriciousness 

Red carnation means admiration 

Pink carnations is associated with happiness 

White carnation is pure and ardent love and a good-luck gift to a woman.

 from the book " Garden Flower Folklore "

by Laura C.Martin