Complacent, rising to welcome East Indian queen getting flowers (9)

'flowers' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both plants as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'complacent rising to welcome east indian queen' is the wordplay.
'complacent' becomes 'smug' (smug can mean complacent or self-satisfied).
'rising' says the letters should be written backwards (going up in a down clue).
'to welcome' is an insertion indicator (in sense of 'inviting in').
'east' becomes 'E' (synonyms).
'indian queen' becomes 'rani' (I've seen this before).
'smug' in reverse letter order is 'gums'.
'e'+'rani'='erani'
'gums' enclosing 'erani' is 'GERANIUMS'.

'getting' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?