Chrysanthemums are the easiest of perennials
Plant them in early spring when you bid farewell
to winter’s snow!
They like the bright sun and resent ‘wet feet’, -
So grow them in dry soil, in a hole dug deep!
It is originally a native of the Eurasian region, -
Today there are hundreds of species flowering
in all seasons!
Cultivated in China as a flowering herb initially, -
There the city of Ju-Xian means ‘Chrysanthemum
Around 400 AD the ‘mum’ traveled with the
Buddhist monks to Japan, -
And the Emperor became the flower’s greatest
The Japanese called it ‘kikus’, and at the
Emperor’s behest, -
It got adopted on his Imperial Crest!
The Emperor sits on the Chrysanthemum Throne!
And the ‘Order of the Chrysanthemum’ in Japan, –
is the highest order known!!
The ‘mums’ with deeply lobed leaves and large
flowering heads, -
Are now found in colors of white, yellow, pink
In a few European countries* the white species -
symbolizes sorrow and death;
But in USA this flower always brings good cheer
29 Mar 09
(* In France, Poland & Croatia the white flower
symbolizes death! 'Mums'= short form for