Although I have always bought chrysanthemums in the fall and put them out on the front stoop like everyone else, this year I decided I was tired of them.
I consulted a woman who gardens, someone I see on the commuter train. She said, “How about asters? How about kale?”
So that’s what I’m doing this year. I need a few more, though, because my neighbors’ chrysanthemums do look more substantial.
In coming down rather hard on chrysanthemums, I am reminded of the A.A. Milne poem about the dormouse. Do you remember?
The dormouse’s favorite thing was to lie in bed of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red). But a doctor and a team of experts decided the dormouse was sick, sleeping too much. The doctor prescribed chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
The self-effacing dormouse says wistfully, “I suppose all these people know better than I.” He lets them have their way and they tear up his beloved delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red) and plant chrysanthemums (yellow and white). The dormouse comes up with his own solution.
“The Dormouse lay there with his paws to his eyes,
“And imagined himself such a pleasant surprise:
” ‘I’ll pretend the chrysanthemums turn to a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)!’ ”
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
This post might well be my new favorite. Thanks!
There’s a deep wisdom in that poem. Sometimes to get by one does need to shut out one reality and envision another. I also have heard of tiny, spirit-renewing gardens amid the Tokyo bustle.
We put winter pansies in front of our house (and there is a difference between those and the ones that grow in the summer), ornamental cabbage and kale in the garden in back. Dahlias and celosia still going strong and attracting butterflies!
I imagine dahlias and celosia are going strong because you are in the south. I am quite interested to hear about winter pansies. I saw pansies featured where I bought the kale and asters, and I wondered. You learn something every day! Thank you, Dormouse!
Doctors, indeed! What do they know…
I love the way the poem skewers experts. Didn’t really get that part as a child, was just annoyed at the doctor’s bragging and felt bad for the dormouse: “I suppose all these people know better than I”…
My mother used to quote those lines, when I was little ♥
I like asters because they come in so many different shades, even in the wild, from white through hot pink to deep purple. And sizes! From tiny to about the size in your photo.
Going apple picking this a.m. Hope they have asters there, too. I want more.