Though many Americans associate chrysanthemums with the flower baskets that decorate New England doorsteps each fall, the plant actually has its roots in ancient China. Buddhist monks likely introduced the flower to Japan around the eighth century, where it later captivated Emperor Go-Toba (1180-1239), inspiring him to incorporate its likeness into his crest, a precursor to the one that’s still used by the imperial family today. Since then, the chrysanthemum has been a national symbol of Japan, even embossed in gold on the country’s passports. But it’s beloved across East Asia, celebrated with festivals and memorialized in art, textiles and ceramics.
The flower was first spotted in Holland in the 17th century and later traveled to Britain and America, where it became popular for its ability to grow in almost any climate, as well as for its late-breaking bloom. “In the fall, when our gardens put on their somber coat of winter, comes the hardy chrysanthemum to cheer and beautify the grounds,” wrote a contributor to a 1905 book by the English-born horticulturist Arthur Herrington.
But while the chrysanthemum — whose name originates from the Greek chrysos (gold) and anthemon (flower) — remained in vogue for several centuries after its arrival in the West, it eventually became associated with funerals and cheap bouquets. Recently, however, less familiar types — including the spider, with its fireworks spray; other Japanese varieties that have a wild, Seussian silhouette; and the pompom, characterized by a tightly packed snowball shape — have been showing up on social media and at fashion shows and parties. “They have such soul. They’re not just a wadded-up hundred-dollar bill on a stem, some fake signifier of wealth like a rose,” says Taylor Johnston, a co-owner of Issima, a Little Compton, R.I., nursery that specializes in unusual hardy plants. “The chrysanthemum has more understated sophistication and elegance.”
Johnston, 41, has loved the flower since her time as the head gardener of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, founded by the 19th-century American philanthropist and art collector who had an affinity for Japanese culture. Each fall, in homage to Gardner’s love of chrysanthemums, the museum displays dozens of varieties in its courtyard. The horticulturists there practice a Japanese pruning technique called ogiku, which produces statuesque single stems as tall as five feet with dinner-plate-size blooms in shades of apricot and violet.
The London-based floral designer Leigh Chappell also looks to Japanese tradition when working with chrysanthemums. She has made ikebana-inspired single-stem arrangements with varieties like the feathery pink Avignon and spiky purple spider in footed vessels, some sourced from Noe Kuremoto, a local ceramics artist. “I’ve been trying to convince people to use chrysanthemums for years, but it’s hard because they’ve had this bad rep of being a last-minute gift from the petrol station kind of flower. But when you present them in this elevated, minimal way, it gives them a contemporary feel,” says Chappell, who also likes that chrysanthemums can be grown locally.
If chrysanthemums seem conventional — basic, even — for some designers, that’s central to their appeal. The Seoul-based floral designer Heo Hye-won dyes white pompoms unnatural shades of purple and blue for her arrangements, sometimes mixing them with other unfashionable flowers like baby’s breath and gerbera daisies. She also crafts what she calls Queen’s Wands, attenuated bridal bouquets of dyed and natural-colored pompoms stacked atop one another like scoops of ice cream. Meanwhile, Edénique de Beaumont, 37, the founder of the Amsterdam-based floral design studio Edénique — known for sculptural combinations of flora, fabric and candles — plays with the chrysanthemum in similarly irreverent ways. Earlier this year, she tied a series of eight white taffeta bows around the thick stem of a fluffy white Dutch variety, which she topped with a vintage tiara. “A lot of people see chrysanthemums as cheap and old-school but, if you create something different and spectacular with them, people really love them,” she says. “That’s the key — you have to do something really new.”
Set designer’s assistant: Lola Faraud
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