Why couldn't you make 25 of the flowers, changing colors after the original 9 to make them different, and make the names part of that square.. perhaps in a curve at the bottom that follows the shape of the flower a bit.. just like the sliver moon sort of curve. Or alternate the names between a curve under the flower and over the next one.
Between the flowers you could put sashing in different colors that compliment the flowers. It could be plain sashing but I can also see a soft scrappy of pastel 2" blocks in a 9 patch as sashing. Or if you want it smaller, a pastel 4 patch.