Flowers have always inspired lore, and there is even an etiquette associated with flowers to help people understand each flower’s significance, and what is right for different occasions. Flowers are also connected to months, about birth, so people who want to give a new mother flowers, give her the flowers associated with the month of her child’s birth. American flower lore connects mums with happiness, love and luck.

The designated flower for November is the Chrysanthemum. The name Chrysanthemum comes from two Greek words: “Chrysous,” the word for golden, and “anthemon,” the Greek word for flower. The earliest known place where the flower was grown is China, as long as 3500 years ago.

There are both wild mums and domesticated mums. The Greek derivation of the flower name refers to the wild mum because wild mums are only yellow. Domesticated mums exist in many different colors and color combinations, and there are 13 different and distinct mum shapes.

Chrysanthemums have a special place in Chinese and Japanese culture. In China, a sweet Chrysanthemum tea is made from the flowers. Other parts of these plants are also useful, and boiled or steamed Chrysanthemum leaves are not uncommon in Chinese cuisine.

A substance only found in mums (their roots,) is a powerful and effective insecticide (Pyrethrums,) commonly used in organic gardening. The antibacterial and anti-fungal properties of mums made them useful in traditional medical practice.

Garden mums are well suited to growing in most places, and with proper care and protection, most cultivars (with the exception of white flowers,) can survive cold outdoor temperatures throughout winter.

They need a fair amount of maintenance and monthly fertilizing after planting, but other than that, a good, sunny location that is protected from any outdoor night lights, fertile, well-drained soil, and consistent watering is the only care mums need to give you a spectacular outdoor feast of fall color.

Another possibility for designating Chrysanthemum as November’s flower is that by November, days are shorter, lengthening the amount of darkness there is, and mums have to have long periods of total darkness to set buds. When grown outdoors, mums reach their full glory in September and October, but if the weather is suitable, they can and do bloom through all November, only stopping when a hard freeze thrusts them into dormancy.