November Birth Flower: The Chrysanthemum, Its Meaning and Which Colours to Send

The November birth flower is the chrysanthemum, and it is a good one to be born with. It shows up exactly when everything else in an Ontario garden has given up, it comes in more colours and shapes than almost any other flower, and once cut it lasts longer than most of what's in a florist's cooler.

It also comes with one catch that matters more than any meaning chart: in a lot of families, white chrysanthemums are for funerals. If you are sending flowers for a November birthday, that one detail is worth knowing before anything else. After that, it's mostly a question of colour, budget and who the flowers are for, and our birthday flowers collection has the bouquets we mention below.

What does the chrysanthemum mean?

The chrysanthemum's traditional meanings are joy, friendship, optimism and a long life. The name itself is Greek, from chrysos (gold) and anthemon (flower), because the early ones were golden yellow.

The long-life meaning goes back a long way. In China, where the flower was grown for many centuries before it reached Europe, mums were linked with longevity, and the Double Ninth Festival (the ninth day of the ninth lunar month) is still known as a chrysanthemum festival, a day tied to good health and respect for the elderly.

In Japan the chrysanthemum is the emblem of the imperial family. The Imperial Seal is a stylized chrysanthemum, and the monarchy itself is often called the Chrysanthemum Throne. Japan celebrates Chrysanthemum Day on September 9, borrowed from the same Double Ninth date. And in Australia, where November is spring and May is autumn, mums are the traditional Mother's Day flower, helped along by the name.

So a chrysanthemum for a November birthday says, quite literally, "here's to a long life." That's a nice thing to put on a card, especially for a grandparent.

Chrysanthemum colour meanings

The colour changes the message, and with mums the colour matters more than usual:

The flower-meaning books disagree on the finer points, so don't worry about whether bronze means gratitude or warmth. What doesn't change much is the white question.

Why white chrysanthemums can be the wrong choice

In much of Europe, France and Italy especially, chrysanthemums are the flower people bring to cemeteries in early November, around All Saints' Day. In Korea, Japan and China, white chrysanthemums are a traditional funeral and memorial flower. Plenty of families in Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan and Toronto grew up with one of those traditions.

That is why our own all-white chrysanthemum designs, like White Vigil and Open Heart, sit in our sympathy collection and not with the birthday flowers. For a birthday, we'd always lean on colour. If you know the person well and they love white flowers, that's your call, but mix in another colour and the question goes away.

In Britain, Canada and the US, mums carry no such weight for most people. They're a fall flower, full stop. Garden centres across Ontario fill up with potted mums every September, and they're a fixture on Thanksgiving tables in October. But you rarely know every tradition in a family, so colour is the safe bet.

Types of chrysanthemums you'll see in a bouquet

"Mum" covers a lot of very different-looking flowers. The National Chrysanthemum Society sorts them into 13 classes by bloom form, from tight pompons to spiders with long, curling petals. In a florist's cooler you mostly meet five:

• Disbuds: one big bloom per stem, the side buds pinched off as it grows. Football mums are the large version. Formal and full.
• Spray mums: several smaller heads branching off one stem. These are the workhorses that fill a mixed bouquet.
• Daisy mums: spray mums with a flat ring of petals around a visible centre, so they look like a daisy. The ones in Parlour Posy are this kind.
• Buttons and pompons: small, round, tidy heads, often in green, yellow or bronze.
• Spiders: long, thin, tube-shaped petals that curl at the tips. Striking, and the least likely to look like a garden-centre pot.

If you've only ever thought of mums as the round orange pots by the supermarket door, the spider and disbud types are worth a second look.

When are chrysanthemums in season in Ontario?

Outdoors, garden mums flower from late summer through October and keep going into November until a hard frost finishes them. That's why they're the flower of the month: on a November birthday, they're often the last thing still blooming in a York Region garden.

Cut chrysanthemums are a different story. They're grown in greenhouses and come in all year, like roses and carnations, so a florist can use them in March as easily as in November. What changes with the season is the mood people want from them. In the fall, bronze, rust and plum mums look right. In spring, the same flower in white or soft green reads quite differently.

There's a month-by-month view of what's in season in our seasonal flower guide, if you'd like to see what else a November birthday could borrow from.

How to choose good chrysanthemum stems

If you're buying mums yourself, at a market or a grocery store, a few checks make a big difference:

• Look at the leaves first. Yellowing or limp leaves are the earliest sign a mum has been sitting around. The flowers often still look fine when the leaves have already given up.
• Buy them mostly open. Tight green buds on a mum often stall and never open fully in a vase. Pick stems where the flowers are open or close to it.
• Check the centres on daisy types. The middle should look firm and fresh, not dusty with shed pollen or brown.
• Smell the bucket. Mum stems foul water quickly. A sour smell means the stems have been sitting in old water.
• Feel the stem end. It should be firm, not slimy.

When we design with mums, we strip every leaf that would sit below the waterline before they go in, which is most of the battle.

November birthday flowers we'd send

As a November birth flower, the chrysanthemum usually plays a supporting role in a bouquet rather than the whole show, which suits it. They fill gaps, hold their shape and add texture next to roses and lilies.

• Peach and Plum ($125) has plum chrysanthemums with pink lilies, hydrangea, roses and carnations. It is the closest thing we make to a November birth flower bouquet.
• Parlour Posy ($98) arrives in a vase, with daisy mums, alstroemeria, carnations, snapdragons and hypericum berries. Good for someone who doesn't own a vase, and it lasts.

Warm colours for a late-autumn birthday

If you'd rather skip mums altogether, borrow their colour. November birthdays suit gold, rust, plum and cream, the colours of the last leaves. Meadow Light has 15 sunflowers with baby's breath ($125), Caramel Sun has 10 ($98.50), and Violet Cerise ($150) brings the plum and purple side with premium roses and stock. Sunflowers in November come from greenhouses, and they're one of the cheerier things you can put on a grey kitchen table. There are more in our sunflowers collection.

November birthday flowers by who they're for

The meaning helps, but who the flowers are for usually decides it. Here's what we'd send, with prices before HST and delivery:

For a grandparent who is turning 80 or 90, a card that mentions the chrysanthemum's long-life meaning does a lot of the work.

The peony: November's second flower on some lists

A few newer birth flower lists give November a second flower, the peony, which stands for good fortune, romance and a happy life. Most traditional charts list the chrysanthemum alone, so treat it as an option rather than a rule.

It's a useful option, though, because peonies are about as far from a funeral flower as you can get, and they solve the white-mum problem neatly for someone who loves soft, pale flowers. Sunlit Peonies ($190) has 15 peonies with hydrangeas and alstroemeria, and Peony Parcel ($150) has 10 mixed peonies with hydrangeas. Peonies arrive as tight buds and open over a day or two, so they're still getting better the day after the birthday.

How long does the November birth flower last?

Longer than most. Here is how chrysanthemums compare with the flowers they usually share a bouquet with, as a typical range with fresh water and a cool room:

To get the full run out of them:

• Change the water every two days. Mums foul their water faster than you'd think, and the leaves below the waterline go first.
• Strip any leaves that sit in the water. This is the single biggest difference to vase life.
• Recut the stems about a centimetre every few days, on an angle.
• Keep them away from heat vents and the fruit bowl. November is when the furnace comes on, and ripening fruit gives off ethylene, which ages flowers faster.

In a mixed bouquet, the roses usually go first. Pull them out as they fade, recut what's left and put it in a smaller vase, and the mums and carnations will often carry on for another week. There's more in our guide on making fresh flowers last longer.

Are chrysanthemums safe for cats and dogs?

No. The ASPCA lists chrysanthemums as toxic to cats, dogs and horses. They contain natural irritants, including pyrethrins, the same family of compounds used in some insect sprays. A pet that chews them can get vomiting, diarrhea, drooling and poor coordination, and handling them can irritate skin. Serious cases are uncommon, but if a pet eats some, call your vet.

For a home with a cat that treats every bouquet as a salad, skip mums and go all roses, which the ASPCA lists as non-toxic. Lilies are the flower we'd be strictest about: they're dangerous to cats in any amount, pollen included. Peach and Plum has both lilies and mums, so it's a better pick for a cat-free home.

With small children, mums aren't thought of as highly poisonous to people, but the sap can irritate skin, so a high shelf is still a good idea. If a child eats part of any plant and you're unsure, the Ontario Poison Centre is at 1-800-268-9017.

Card ideas for a November birthday

The card is where the birth flower earns its keep, because a line about the meaning turns a bouquet into a thought. Some we like:

• "November's flower stands for a long life. Here's to plenty more."
• "Chrysanthemums for joy and friendship. Both of which you bring. Happy birthday."
• "The one flower that blooms when everything else is done. Seemed right for you."
• "Your birth flower means optimism. You've earned a whole bunch of it this year."
• For a grandparent: "In China, the chrysanthemum stands for a long and healthy life. Happy 85th."

The November birthstones are topaz and citrine, both yellow to golden, which gives you one more reason to go for yellow mums or sunflowers. Type your message at checkout and we tuck it in with the flowers. There's no price in the box.

Ordering November birthday flowers

We make every bouquet by hand in our Oak Ridges studio, at the north end of Richmond Hill. Order by 1 pm for same-day delivery to most postal codes in York Region and Toronto, seven days a week, including Richmond Hill, Markham and Toronto. If you know the date already, pick it at checkout up to 60 days ahead.

The delivery fee depends on driving distance from the studio: $12 up to 10 km, $18 up to 20 km, $25 up to 35 km and $30 up to 50 km, and the exact amount shows at checkout before you pay. Choose the morning window (9:30 to 1) for a surprise before lunch, or the afternoon (1 to 6:30) if they'll be out until later.

Planning a November birthday dinner or party and want flowers on the tables? Our celebrations page is the place to start. And if you're stuck between two designs, text or call us at (437) 291-5605 with a budget and a favourite colour. Texts work from Canadian numbers. You can see the other eleven months in our guide to birth flowers by month.

Frequently asked questions

What is the November birth flower?

The chrysanthemum is the November birth flower. It traditionally stands for joy, friendship, optimism and a long life. Some newer lists also give the peony as a second November flower, though most traditional charts list the chrysanthemum alone.

What do chrysanthemums symbolize?

Chrysanthemums symbolize joy, friendship and long life, a meaning that goes back to China, where they were linked with longevity. In Japan the chrysanthemum is the imperial emblem. In parts of Europe and East Asia, white chrysanthemums are also a funeral and remembrance flower.

Is it OK to give chrysanthemums for a birthday?

Yes, as long as you choose colour. Yellow, bronze, pink, red and plum mums are cheerful birthday flowers. Avoid an all-white chrysanthemum bouquet, since many families from European, Korean, Japanese and Chinese traditions connect white mums with funerals.

What colour chrysanthemum means death?

White is the colour most linked with death and mourning, particularly in Korea, Japan and China. In France and Italy, chrysanthemums of any colour are strongly associated with cemeteries and All Saints' Day, so for those families it's kinder to choose a different flower altogether.

Are chrysanthemums poisonous to cats?

Yes. The ASPCA lists chrysanthemums as toxic to cats, dogs and horses. Eating them can cause vomiting, diarrhea, drooling and poor coordination, and the sap can irritate skin. Serious cases are uncommon, but call your vet if a pet eats some, and choose an all-rose bouquet for a cat household.

What is a good gift for a November birthday?

A bouquet with coloured chrysanthemums, or one in late-autumn colours like gold, rust and plum. Sunflowers and peonies are good alternatives. Add a card that mentions the birth flower's meaning, a long and happy life, and the gift feels chosen rather than grabbed.

How long do cut chrysanthemums last?

Cut chrysanthemums usually last 10 to 14 days, among the longest of any cut flower. Strip any leaves below the waterline, change the water every two days, recut the stems every few days and keep the vase away from heat vents and ripening fruit.