Welcome, Nove-mum-ber

For those of you who are aware of Halloween’s true origins, which are founded in the traditions of the Celtic holiday Samhain (pronounced sow-in), you know that it’s much more than plastic-wrapped candies and 31 days of the best and worst horror movies streaming services have to offer. Historically, Samhain marks the end of the harvest season, when everything begins to go dormant and turn inward for the coming winter. As the official pagan New Year, Samhain is understood to be the time when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest, making communication with the otherworld easier – a prime opportunity to offer gratitude for the bounty of the warmer, greener months that shrink away behind us, and humbly pray for prosperity, health, and happiness for the year ahead.

Of course, before ghosts, goblins, and ghouls became the poster children of Halloween, Samhain was (and still is!) steeped in natural symbolism. Of these classic totems, the hardy chrysanthemum reigns supreme.

Found to be the usual autumnal suspect lingering outside of grocery stores, decorating the quaint porch containers of our neighbors, or appearing in small seasonal bouquets at your favorite local restaurant, the chrysanthemum often gets overlooked as a staple that we just expect like clockwork to manifest into existence each year.

Annual “mums”, as Western society has affectionately come to call them, are most often the go-to for seasonal projects, found plastered next to piles of lumpy gourds and pumpkins as frost-hardy decor. Chrysanthemums don’t have to get lost in the sauce – in fact, we can easily incorporate the perennial selections into our landscapes as late season bloomers that provide plenty of resources to last minute pollinators.

Chrysanthemums have quite the cultural history: often the muse for traditional East Asian art (most notably the irregular incurve type - see below), the humble mum is considered a symbol of longevity and rejuvenation. Blooming dutifully through some of the first frosts of the season, it’s no mystery as to why these flowers are thought to be emblematic of these attributes. Japanese paintings often depict highly elaborate petal arrangements, making these flowers appear almost otherworldly. Through time, the standard daisy-like mum has undergone many transformations by means of hybridization. Now separated into 13 different classifications by the National Chrysanthemum Society, there seems to be a mum for all preferences and occasions.

Class 1  | Irregular Incurve

Class 2  | Reflex

Class 3  | Regular Incurve

Class 4  | Decorative

Class 5  | Intermediate Incurve

Class 6  | Pompon  

Class 7  | Single and Semi-Doubles 

Class 8  | Anemone

Class 9  | Spoon

Class 10 | Quill

Class 11 | Spider

Class 12 | Brush and Thistle

Class 13 | Unusual

Luckily, these fancy forms aren’t left to the disappointing annual versions of these fantastic flowers. Chrysanthemum ‘Matchsticks’, with its curious spoon-shaped ray flowers, is proof that a mum can be more than just a transient container decoration. Fireworks-shaped flowers explode with red, orange and yellow, inviting chilly bees to take respite in their centers against the blustery fall winds.

Of course, if a more classic mum shape is more your speed, ‘Rustic Glow’ and ‘Hillside Sheffield Pink’ provide the perfect bespoke tones to the cottage garden with their semi-double flowers, and can often be found buzzing with bees and butterflies of all sorts throughout the fall.

Designated as the birth flower for November, there’s no better time than now to get planting with chrysanthemums in your next project.