Why would someone have a flower phobia?

A coworker is afraid of flowers. The bigger the flower the bigger her adverse reaction. She is not allergic. She calls them grotesque and can’t bear to even look at them. She has a hard time explaining why she feels this way so I don’t force the issue. In the past I remember her say negative things abut an Amaryllis that some one brought to work but I thought that she must be kiddng. Today I brought to work one of my flowering Econopsis cacti with flowers that look so beautiful Like this I bought it to work because the flowers are spectacular but only lasts for about 1 day. I thought I’d let as many people as possible enjoy it’s glorious flowers which they all did except one.

I’ve learned my lesson from this which is to leave flowers at home but I just keep wondering why would someone dislike flowers so much? She is first generation Chinese from Hong Kong so I wonder if this is some kind of Chinese superstition?