Given as a token of affection on Valentine’s Day, offered as a form of sympathy for those in mourning, and generally turning the landscape around us into a natural work of art, flowers are a terribly underappreciated plant that have potential that lies outside of the few niches of human existence that we jam them into. The web serves as a great example of this, allowing flowers, from roses to common dandelions, to serve as focal points for design and development.

Did you think that flower-inspired web designs were for the websites of florists only? If so, you’re quite wrong, and the wide and interesting variance between these eight flower-inspired web designs will prove it.

Tip: Nature can be a huge source of inspiration. To get inspired, browse flower-related websites like Flowers24hours.co.uk, subscribe to flower-heavy Pinterest boards and monitor Flickr groups!

1. Idee-Pure

No matter what area of design you speak of, flowers and other plant life are often representative of the clean, crisp outcome that you’re looking for, and Idee-Pure.com, the home of two web designing ladies from France, obviously knows this.

The use of flowers here is simple, allowing them to border the website’s upper navigation, while still not infringing negatively on the space below.

2. Cult Foo

There are many positive things to say about the design of Cult Foo, a website aimed at bringing together all things web and artistic, but first and foremost among them is its great use of flowers to add some pizazz to the header.

Of course, scrolling down will review a unique cloud effect of its own, allowing the flowers to act as a draw to the header until a visitor takes downward action.

3. CSS Addict

Designing with pure CSS seems to bring the flowery side out of people, and the website of CSS Addict offers the proof in the pudding with its beautiful hand-drawn additions behind and around its logo, giving the site a fresh, well-designed look that fits beautifully with its theme.

4. Siaweb

Another simple portfolio and service site for a web designer, flowers do all of the visual talking here, nicely bordering a quick and easy to digest breakdown of each product and service, allowing potential customers to get straight to the important data while still admiring the designer’s handiwork.

5. Hrasti.com

This Belgian nursery obviously knows the appeal of its wares, allowing plants and flowers to encircle center stage, giving visitors a bit of eye candy to enjoy while they decide whether or not to indulge in one of the company’s hundreds of green products.

6. Weberica.net

The home of a Croatian web designer, Weberica.net uses natural beauties like flowers and all things green to spruce up its look, leaving the pretty stuff to the borders in order to showcase the content to be found within.

7. Flirty Fleurs

When you’re already blogging about flowers, you may not want to go too overboard when including their likenessess if your design, and the people behind FleuryFlowers.com have done a fantastic job achieving the perfect balance.

Instead of allowing flowers to border all division lines, they appear simply, minimalistically, and quite beautifully below the header text only, promising not to get visitors feeling “all flowered out” before they even get started.

8. Cymbiium Floral

Abstract gives way to realism in this florist’s website design, with the lines between promotional material and design aspects blurred greatly by the use of standalone photographs. Outside of product photos, the only floral pattern used serves as a drowned-out background for the site at large, ensuring that, no matter where a visitor finds themselves on the site, flowers are never long out of mind.