Violet Chrysanthemums

These violet chrysanthemums offered a welcome sight while wandering through a garden where summer's flowers had long since peaked and died back. The mums' mix of buds, partly opened blooms, and fully open flowers summarises the chrysanthemum life cycle. With most of them having reached their peak of blooming, they seemed to demand to have their picture taken. Mums come into their own in late summer because they bloom in response to reduced sunlight from shorter days, making them one of the flowers associated with the astrological sign Virgo, which comes at the end of summer. Mums mostly are perennials, indicating Virgo's dependability and reliability, and they remain fresh far longer than other flowers after cutting, making them valuable for arrangements, offering a beautiful symbol of longevity, and appealing to Virgo's urge to frugality and good value. Chrysanthemums also have been used in herbal medicine, a practice that points to VIrgo's concern for health and vitality. In Asia, particularly Japan, chrysanthemums carry a rich, ancient symbolism: these flowers unfold their petals in an orderly way that came to symbolise perfection, the quality above all that Virgo quests to achieve.