Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums are ancient flowers that are quite versatile. They are fairly inexpensive and easy to grow and look great in the garden! Chrysanthemums can add color to a flower arrangement and you can even eat them!

The growing of mums started around 500 AD in China. Tao Yuan Ming spent years cross pollinating and developed his chrysanthemums into stunning varieties. His flowers were so beautiful that when he died, his birthplace was renamed Chuhsien. The City of Chrysanthemums. His efforts had produced a legacy that would bring pleasure to this world for centuries.

When China imported the first chrysanthemums to Japan, the people there bestowed many honors upon them. The Japanese wrote legends. To sip dew from the petals meant long life. To eat the flower meant immortality. Philosophers said that the systematic opening of the "ray" flowers symbolized both the sun and the perfection of orderly life.

Although they are a rather common type flower today, the chrysanthemum enjoyed much prestige around 800 AD that only nobles and royals were allowed to grow them. Among the highest honors that could be bestowed in Japan was admittance to the Order of the Chrysanthemum... a reward granted to nobility for service to the Emperor.

In great contrast to this, the "mum" didn't make much of an impression when traders introduced it to Europe in the 1600s. But when in finally did catch on, it became one of the most popular blooms for both flower shops and gardens.

Today the mum comes in dozens of varieties. Fuji mums project rays with curly ends. Spider mums have straight-ended rays. Starburst mums have forked ends, while spoon-ended mums have a loop at the end of their rays. China mums are called "standard" and "football" because of their large, round heads. Daisy-like mums are called pompons. And those forming tight little balls are called button pomps.

Whether associated with spoons, forks or footballs, or with royalty or immortality, "mum" is the word for beautiful gardens and long-lasting floral arrangements.

If you like to have your garden flowers inside too and plan to use your chrysanthemums in a vase keep them away from areas of heat and cold such as air conditioning, TV’s and heaters. Your cut bouquet mums can last for over a week if you keep them away from drafts and out of the sun as well as make sue they have plenty of water.