Mums the word at Hangzhou Botanic Garden

Ti Gong

The annual Yangtze Delta Chrysanthemum Festival is in full bloom at Hangzhou Botanic Garden, with the flowers predicted to last through the end of November.

As one of the prettiest varieties of perennials that start blooming early in the autumn, mums are known as the flower of November in Hangzhou.

The flower exhibition is co-hosted by 28 organizations and departments in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai. The event is seen as an occasion for horticulturists from the Yangtze Delta region to exchange their expertise in cultivation and flower arrangement.

Organizers have set up 12 flower arranging sections with 1,300 pots of mums. These flowers were cultivated by horticulturists from around the Yangtze Delta, showing the most recent cultivation results from this area.

For ancient Chinese people, lingering over blooming mums was one of the most popular entertainments of the Double Ninth Festival throughout dynasties. The 9th day of the 9th lunar month, which fell on October 23 this year, has two nines, with the pronunciation similar to "forever" in Chinese. Therefore, it is a festival for old people and family get-togethers.

The tradition of mum appreciation dates to the Jin Dynasty (AD 265-420) when poet Tao Yuanming (AD 365–427) started to celebrate the festival by enjoying the flowers and drinking chrysanthemum wine.

Tao was a reclusive poet who wrote verses on the theme of countryside solitude. He is regarded as the founder of the so-called Fields and Gardens poetry genre, which focused upon gardens, backyards and cultivated countryside to express inner peace.

At the exhibition, organizers have set up a section in the style of Fields and Gardens poetry, with mums growing along the hedge of a rugged yard. This invokes an image of Tao growing chrysanthemums in the minds of visitors.

In addition to flowers, the exhibition also aims to promote mum-related cultural and horticultural knowledge among visitors.

Ti Gong

Chinese people consider mums one of the "four gentlemen" of plants, along with orchids, plum blossoms and bamboo. Ancient scholars eulogized the flowers' refined beauty in literature and ink-wash paintings.

During that time, painting chrysanthemums was a way for scholars to express their noble aspirations and admiration for high-minded ideas. At the exhibition, organizers have arranged ancient paintings to match chrysanthemum bonsai.

Among Song Dynasty (960-1279) scholars, playing the zither, burning incense, drinking tea, flower arranging and painting were popular pastimes. To echo the Song Dynasty vibe presented by the decor, a player of the Chinese six-stringed zither has been invited to perform ancient classical music on-site.

Mums were first cultivated in China as a herb as far back as the 15th century BC. Over 500 cultivars had been recorded by the year 1630. Ancient women stuck mum in their hair or hung branches on windows and doors to ward off evil. They believed the scent could make the evils dizzy. Today, Chinese people keep the custom of brewing dried mums to replenish body and remove inner toxic.

Mums grow best in full sunshine. They produce colorful blooms when days get shorter and nights get longer. The life cycle of plant depends on the amount of daylight. The soil should be kept moist but well drained so it does not get too wet.

The flowers at the festival are arranged in varied forms, from hanging baskets to topiary, bonsai and cascades.

Modern cultivars are showier than their wild relatives. At the exhibition, the riverbank flanked with cascading yellow mums attracts flocks of people. The pavilion, serene water, aromatic flowers and zigzag bridges make up an ink-wash painting centuries ago.

Ti Gong

If you go

Date: Though November 28

Admission: Free to botanic garden ticket holders (10 yuan per person)

Address: 1 Taoyuanling

桃源岭1号