Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Spider Chrysanthemum and What Not to Take to a French Dinner Party

Spider chrysanthemum

The plant identifier app that I use claimed it King Protea which I knew wasn't right.

The photos the app shared were nothing like the flower in my photo. 

Thank you for the suggestions Leonie was the first to tell me it’s name it is a spider 

My friend Mary (we were in a monastery together) sent me this article…

"…Cultivated as an herb in China for more than 3,500 years, the chrysanthemum represents nobility and is considered one of the four gentlemen: the pure and defiant recluse that represents fall. For a long time, the flowers were only permitted to be grown by nobility, later becoming the badge for the old Chinese army…"

________

 

  The differences between France and America are subtle take Mums and pumpkins for example.

Mums a fall flower arrives in force in October. They spill out from the French floral shops onto the streets, creating a parade of magnificent color. Just as pumpkins shout out Autumn in America, Mums are the flower that say Autumn is here in France. Pumpkins are a food in France, were in the States pumpkins are more for decoration, a Halloween Jack-o-Lantern.

When invited to a dinner party it is a thoughtful gesture to bring something to the hostess. Candy, wine, or flowers is the typical avenue. (FLASHBACK 1988…)

Why not bring a Mum's plant I thought and bought one that seem to be a perfect ball of gold.

When I came home French Husband told me it was a plant that symbolized All Soul's Day because:

  "It is the flower we take to the graveside of those we love who have gone before us." 

Oh! scratch that flower off the list.

Mums are not a flower to give to "the living" in France.

 

Comments

7 responses to “Spider Chrysanthemum and What Not to Take to a French Dinner Party”

  1. Leonie

    Oh what Faux Pas that would have been!
    Arun Lillies were a funeral/burial flower here years ago but often used in bride’s bouquets in later years. My Dad always related fresias to cemeteries because the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere in Sydney was covered in fresias when he was a young boy. There used to be a trainline into it & trains would carry the coffin!

    Reply
  2. Diogenes

    The mums we bought in the store would get planted each year and come up faithfully the next. I was always partial to the deep rust colored ones.

    Reply
  3. Jeanne

    Oh your stories always touch my heart.
    My husband bought me a big huge Mum on Saturday the soft pink colour I love
    God bless you and I love the history you told me of he Mum in China.
    I love you
    Jeanne

    Reply
  4. Patrizia

    In Italy too these are the flowers we take to the cemetery on the 2nd November and all through the month of November.
    More then this type we have the ones that the flower is like a ball and they come on a kind of very pale purple or white or yellow.
    I love them and in China these are flowers that men give to their fiancé or wives as they represent Love to them.
    In Italy if you were to give these flowers to any woman, they would be terribly offended and one would risk to be beaten up with them!
    I wouldn’t mind because I like them very much!
    😂🤣😂

    Reply
  5. Fat Rabbit

    Now you have caused me to consider buying a mum soon for the planter at the front of my house. Out go the geraniums ! Some fall color will be nice.

    Reply
  6. Penni

    I am adding a hearty “AMEN!” to Diogenes’ comment! Every year for decades the women in our congregation were gifted *tiny* 2″-4″ seedling pots of mums once a year. A friend of mine always planted hers -now her yard is packed with huge almost bush sized mums that just come and go on their own time schedules, it’s incredible to walk by her house at times!
    In regard to flower meanings, I remember my grandmother being quite persnickety about which flowers were appropriate for which occasion. Me? BRING ME ALL THE FLOWERS! I don’t care! I love the old meanings, the idea of intrigue that could be had by placing a certain flower on a chair, in a held book, or on a bed to send a message (much nicer than, say, a horse head); but in my reality, I will take whatever flower someone would like to send! Thank you!!! lol

    Reply
  7. Deanna Bailey

    Here are some literary references to chrysanthemums:
    https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/best/chrysanthemum
    https://literaryfictions.com/fiction-1/the-chrysanthemums-by-john-steinbeck-2/
    I have always found them to be fascinating for their symbolism, their beauty and their variety of colors/styles.

    Reply

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