Mums in Yellow, Orange, and Gold (2 of 3)

From “In Peace and War” in Chrysanthemum (Botanical) by Twigs Way:

“The first mention of chrysanthemums being exhibited in America is in the rather unglamorous periodical the New England Farmer of 26 November 1830. This gave a report of chrysanthemums being shown at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on 20 November of that year, including some well-known ‘English’ varieties including ‘Tasseled White’, ‘Park’s Small Yellow’, ‘Quilled Lilac’, ‘Quilled White’ and ‘Golden Lotus’….

“The cultivar namings indicate that the origin of the chrysanthemum infiltration was most likely England and not direct from China or Japan or via the continent. An American catalogue of 1857 refers to the ‘magnificent seminal varieties’ latterly produced in Europe (thanks to the special trading relationship with Japan and China) and goes on to indicate that chrysanthemums were now filling the gardens of the middle and southern states, where they supplied ‘one of the principal adornments by an ever-varying display of beauty during the autumnal period when most other plants present us only [with] the remains of departed verdure’….

“Names of varieties available by 1857 indicate an influx of European varieties by this period alongside the original English colonists; these varieties included ‘Duchess d’Abrantes’, ‘Grand Napoleon’, ‘Guillaume Tell’, ‘General Lafont de Villiers’ and ‘La Superba’, alongside the English ‘Annie Salter’, ‘Annie Henderson’ and the ‘Cloth of Gold’ (a suitably fine yellow colour)….”

From “Soothsayer” by Mary Ursula Bethell in An Anthology of Twentieth-Century New Zealand Poetry, selected by Vincent O’Sullivan:

I walked about the garden in the evening,
And thought: How Autumn lingers —
Still a few gold chrysanthemums —
Still one late rose —
The old blackbird still has voice.

I walked back down the pathway,
The evening light lay gently on the orchard;
Then I saw a redness on the peach boughs,
And bulb-spears pushing upwards,

And heard the old blackbird whistle —
‘Get ready. Get ready. Get ready.
Quick. Quick. Spring.’

---

Hello!

This is the second of three posts featuring photographs of mums I took at Oakland Cemetery’s gardens whose colors include shades of yellow, orange, and gold. The first post is Mums in Yellow, Orange, and Gold (1 of 3).

In the quotation at the top of this post, I added search-links for each of the flower variants mentioned by the author, many from the horticultural journal New England Farmer, which began publishing in the early 19th century. The number of images varies quite a bit (possibly some of the names are no longer commonly used), but many of the flowers by those unusual names are quite fetching. I especially liked Quilled Lilac and Quilled White with their lacy flower petals — two plants I’ve never seen before but would surely like to encounter somewhere.

Thanks for taking a look!

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---