Is your rose garden filled with thorns or do you watch wisteria grow right over your bare feet? Is he sunshine, but you're midnight rain? If you recognise those references, then you're probably a Taylor Swift fan.
Between the numerous mentions of sunrises, sunsets, dappled light, rain, snow, frozen ground, aurora borealis and kissing in the rain, you'd be forgiven for assuming Taylor Swift lives her whole life outdoors. In her earlier albums, plant references are not so common but she does regularly reference backyards and farms, in keeping with her original country style with lines such as: "Friday night beneath the stars, in a field behind your yard" on I'm Only Me When I'm With You (Taylor Swift, 2006).
Swift's earliest childhood years were spent between a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania and her family's summer vacation home in New Jersey. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon in 2009, Swift recalls being five years old and being tasked with removing praying mantis larvae from the Douglas fir trees on her family farm. At the age of thirteen her family moved to Nashville to allow Swift to pursue her music career, however the singer is still clearly influenced by those early years spent among plants.
Her first overt mention of a garden that we could find is in Love Story, her break-out song from the album Fearless (2008) where she sings: "I sneak out to the garden to see you." One of the most recent mentions appears in The Albatross, from The Tortured Poets Department (2024): "Wise men once said 'one bad seed kills the garden'."
In her song Cruel Summer, her most played song, which has surpassed 3.3 billion streams on Spotify, Swift sings: "I snuck in through the garden gate, every night that summer just to seal my fate."
Later in her career, gardens crop up again in betty from folklore (2020) with Swift singing: "Or lead me to the garden? In the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?" and in The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology Swift sings: "I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind," in the song I Hate It Here.
Swift also plays on garden nostalgia in many of her tracks with lines such as: "from sprinkler splashes"; "covered in mud, you look ridiculous"; "you have a favorite spot on the swing set" and "you'll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline." Somewhat surprisingly, trampolines get another mention in her latest album, with the line: "The last time I laughed this hard was on the trampoline in somebody's back yard." And in Suburban Legends, a bonus track from 1989 (Taylor's Version), she sings: "I let it slide like a hose on a slippery plastic summer."
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Her back-catalogue is rich in botanical references, so we decided to take a deep-dive into her world and write a definitive list of all the plants that she has ever mentioned (and yes, we actually read all of the lyrics ourselves).
Every plant ever mentioned in a Taylor Swift song
Swift references flowers in a generic sense often in her music. In the song Clean, from 1989 (2014) she says: "The drought was the very worst, when the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst," evoking a relationship withering away due to emotional neglect and rumoured to be about her time dating Harry Styles.
In Call It What You Want from the album Reputation (2017) she says: "all my flowers grew back as thorns." This is presumably in reference to a period when she was torn down by the media and came out the other side fighting with her reinvention that the Reputation album represented.
She also mentions bouquets of flowers in many albums. On her 2025 release The Life of a Showgirl she sings of receiving bouquets from fans on the title track and also on the song Wood, with the words: "Girls I don't need to catch the bouquet, to know a hard rock is on the way," about her relationship with American football star Travis Kelce.
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In other bouquet references, on Superman from Speak Now (2010) she says "right here wishing the flowers were from you," in Should've Said No from her debut album she sings "the smiles, the flowers, everything is gone," and in a song on Red (2014) dedicated to a young boy who passed away from cancer, she writes: "flowers pile up in the worst way, no one knows what to say."
In later albums, Swift compares flowers in a more complex way. On The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, she sings "He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsman" on the track How Did It End?. This comparison suggests that the love interest is less hardy than Swift, and couldn't cope in her harsher natural environment. Presumably this is about long-term boyfriend and famously fame-shy Joe Alwyn.
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This is built upon with lyrics from her latest album, where on the song Elizabeth Taylor she sings: "all the right guys promised they'd stay, under bright lights, they withered away. But you bloom." We are to assume that this is about Travis Kelce, who has taken Swift's mega-fame in his stride, even appearing on stage for one night during her Eras Tour.
Other mentions of flowers in her songs include: "Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her" Fortnight, The Tortured Poets Department (2024); "Wilted corsage dangles from my wrist," Ruin the Friendship and "poison thorny flowers" on CANCELLED! from The Life of a Showgirl (2025)
Which specific flowers appear?
Roses
Roses are the plant that crops up most across Swift's discography, and the references span her entire career. In her first studio album, Taylor Swift (2006), they get a mention in the song Our Song, where she sings: "I almost didn't notice all the roses."
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Roses appear again in Speak Now (2010) where she sings "you gave me roses and I left them there to die" in the song Back to December, a song confirmed to be an apology letter to Twilight Saga actor Taylor Lautner after the two briefly dated in 2009. She also references rose gardens in The Lucky One from her 2012 album Red, which we can now reveal is one of her most botanically-sparse offerings.
Her 2014 album 1989 (and the 2023 re-release of the same album with new bonus tracks) is particularly rose-heavy. Swift sings about a "rose garden filled with thorns" in the song Blank Space and again in the song "Slut!" where she sings "love thorns all over this rose." In Is It Over Now? we see the lyrics: "once the flight had flown, with the wilt of the rose."
On her 2019 album Lover, the song Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince (which was the opening track to her record-breaking Eras Tour), Swift sings: "ripped up my prom dress, running through rose thorns."
In her later, more acoustic-style albums nature imagery becomes much more common. Roses are mentioned in the lyrics: "a red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground" in the lakes, a bonus track from the album folklore (2020). And on her 2024 double-album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anothology, roses receive several shout-outs. On the track Clara Bow, she sings: "All your life did you know, you'd be picked like a rose," on The Albatross she says: "A rose by any other name is a scandal" and The Bolter features the words: "When it's all roses, portrait poses."
Carnations
"Carnations you had thought were roses, that's us," goes the line from the song Maroon, on the 2022 album Midnights. Diving into the symbolism of this line, commentators have suggested this references the realisation that a love isn't what you thought it was. On the surface, it's about a boyfriend bringing home the wrong flowers. After so many rose references, we know Taylor would have spotted this case of mistaken identity immediately.
Lavender
The first song on that same album is titled Lavender Haze, referencing a phrase used to describe the dreamlike feeling of being newly in love. But it still counts as a plant reference to us.
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Wisteria
In her song the lakes, a bonus track from the 2020 folklore album, Swift references wisteria, saying "I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet, 'cause I haven't moved in years." The folklore era represented a shift in musical style for Swift, with a much more acoustic sound and fictional writing. However, it's widely believed that the lakes is about escaping the toxic world of social media to somewhere peaceful like The Lake District in the UK with a loved one. After a lot of bad press, Swift lived for a long time in the UK with Joe Alwyn with whom she had quite a private relationship.
Willow
This one has a whole song dedicated to it, from the album evermore released in 2020 as a sister album to folklore. Swift sings: "life was a willow and it bent right to your wind (oh)." The reference represents adaptability in relationships. People have written entire Reddit threads about the meaning of this song, so I will say no more.
Ivy
Similarly, the same album featured a track titled ivy. This one features strong plant references, with the lyrics including: "I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland. My house of stone, your ivy grows." Other climbing plants get a brief reference in The Fate of Ophelia with the lyrics: "You wrap around me like a chain, a crown, a vine."
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In the song Don't Blame Me on her 2017 album, Reputation she sings about another kind of ivy: "I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy."
Daisy
Which leads us to daisies, mentioned in the line above where she suggests she has become sweeter for her lover, switching from poison ivy to a daisy. Daisies also crop up in the line: "daisy's bare naked, I was distraught. He loves me not," in the song Wood, where Swift evokes picking all the petals off a daisy to see if her crush loves her back. This metaphor has been used by Swift before, with the line: "I picked the petals, he loves me not" on You're on Your Own Kid (Midnights, 2022).
Clover
Also in the song ivy, Swift sings: "clover blooms in the fields." Clover gets another mention in the song The Great War (Midnights, 2022), where she says: "All that bloodshed, crimson clover." This song used military symbolism to describe surviving an explosive argument with a partner.
Poppy
Which brings us to poppies. Also mentioned in the song The Great War, Swift references poppies, evoking the classic symbol of war with the words: "say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair."
Morning glory
The next line of the same song also evokes a plant, whether intentionally or by mistake we'll never know, but she sings: "There was no morning glory, it was war, it wasn't fair."
Violet
And in the opening lines The Great War, which appears to be one of her most plant-heavy tracks, Swift sings: "my knuckles were bruised like violets."
Pumpkin
In a song written about her mum for her second studio album, Fearless (2008), Swift references time spent outdoors as a child, including: "I run and run. Past the pumpkin patch and tractor rides. Look now, the sky is gold," in her song The Best Day.
Peppermint
So this one isn't explicitly referencing the plant, but given that it derives from plants, we think it counts when Swift sings about "holiday, peppermint candy" in the song Midnight Rain.
Christmas trees
Staying in the holiday spirit, we couldn't write a definitive list without mentioning Swift's Christmas song Christmas Tree Farm, which is a nostalgic track about her childhood growing up on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania. The song also provides shout-outs to two more plants: mistletoe and holly.
This is one of the few instances where specific trees get a mention in Swift's work, but she often sings about trees in a general sense.
Trees
References to trees can be found in her earliest album in Mary's Song (Oh My, My, My) where she sings "take me back to the house in the backyard tree," and throughout her career.
In her song Out of the Woods on 1989 where she sings about how "the monsters turned out to be just trees." In her acoustic era, she sings: "picture me in the trees" in the song seven, from folklore (2020) and "honey, when I'm above the trees" from the song happiness, from evermore (2020).
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In her 2022 album, Midnights, Swift references trees in the song Paris, singing: "Sit quiet by my side in the shade, and not the kind that's thrown, I mean the kind under where a tree has grown." Again, in The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (2024), trees are mentioned when she sings: "my beloved ghost and me, sitting in a tree," in the song How Did It End?.
Also on that album, in the song Peter, Swift sings of "my lost fearless leader, in closets like cedar." We're going to count this as a shout out to cedar trees even if it's obviously in reference to timber. Another timber reference that we're going to throw in comes from her latest album The Life of a Showgirl, where Swift references the "mahogany grain" in the song Father Figure.
Perhaps the most promiscuous of all of Swift's tree references, the song Wood, all about her soon-to-be-husband Travis Kelce features the lines: "redwood tree, it ain't hard to see, his love was the key that opened my thighs" and "new heights of manhood, I ain't gotta knock on wood." The less we think about this one, the better.
Grass
Grass gets a mention in the latest addition to Taylor Swift's catalogue, in the song I Knew It, I Knew You released on 5 June 2026 for the movie Toy Story 5. The lyrics go: "I knew you through the daze of the blades of the grass in summer."
However, this is not the first time Swift has referenced the most humble of plants in her music. In the song Invisible String from folklore (2020) she sings: "Green was the colour of the grass where I used to read at Centennial Park" and the opening words to the nostalgic song Ruin The Friendship from The Life of a Showgirl (2025) are: "glistening grass from September rain."
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Lawn
Lawns, the biggest employer of grass, also get a few shoutouts. Notably in mad woman from folklore (2020) where she sings: "Do you see my face in the neighbor's lawn?"
And again in Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? from The Tortured Poets Department where Swift sings: "That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn, that I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong." The song is a critique of the media and how it paints celebrities, and Swift specifically, as dramatic. This line in particular is said to be addressing the narrative that she is overly protective of her intellectual property.
Shrubs
There are sparse references to shrubs in Swift's work, but they deserve a mention none-the-less. In champagne problems (evermore, 2020) she sings: "how evergreen, our group of friends" and in long story short from the same album: "I threw it in the bushes and knocked on your door." From The Tortured Poets Department track Guilty as Sin? we have lyrics: "one slip and fallin' back into the hedge maze. Oh, what a way to die."
Weeds
We could only find one reference to the humble weed, in the song seven, Swift sings: "picture me in the weeds." That is, unless we include this line about cannabis from Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine): "And my friends all smell like weed or little babies."
Fruit
A few fruits are referred to in Swift's back-catalogue. Notably "cherry lips" on Blank Space and "you're sweeter than a peach" on The Life of a Showgirl.
Leaves
Taylor Swift is a fan of evoking the seasons in her music. We haven't pulled out every mention, as we'd be here all day. But in her song All Too Well released in 2012 and then re-released with a 10-minute version in 2021, she sings: "autumn leaves falling down." She also references autumn in The Best Day, where she says: "I don't know why all the trees change in the fall," and in Invisible String with the words "gold was the colour of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park," as well as "like the colors in autumn, so bright, just before they lose it all" on Red.
And that, we think, encompasses all of the plant references in Taylor Swift's discography.
We thought this would be a simple feature to pull together, but it turns out Swift is a big fan of using plant and garden metaphors in her work, so, in the words of the woman herself: "something different bloomed."
