Chrysanthemums?

One of my guilty pleasures is to always have cut flowers in the house. My flower bill has yet to reach Elton John proportions but a nice bunch of flowers once a week from a market, or more likely the supermarket (florist prices are for special occasions) is for me one of life's small pleasures.  The last few weeks supermarket flower buckets have been full of beautiful blowsy pink peonies. Heavenly. The best £5 you can spend I reckon. Big bunches of spring tulips are another heady purchase. But oh dear, this week in the supermarket it's back to the rather dismal selection of frumpy carnations, freesias that smell like toilet cleaner, funereal lilies, and the dreaded.....chrysanthemums.

Now readers in some countries will be shaking there heads in surprise. Whats wrong with chrysanths you might be saying? I have a very stylish Hollywood friend that adorns her very chic apartment with them. I believe in Spain and some other European countries however they call them the flower of death? Certainly I've always avoided them like the plague. But...there's something going on with chrysanths. Have you noticed? First there was those big headed green ones that appeared in the supermarket last year.

This year there are bunches of tiny headed ones in acid yellows and greens. Maybe it's a sign of aging, like elasticated waist bands, but today I purchased some. Not brazenly like, I hid them in my trolley behind the soap powder.

I tried them in a vase but they just stood there all clumpy like. So I trimmed them right down so they fill the top of the vase and they look...well I'm not sure. I kind of like the acid colour, but I think they take some getting used to.

Hmmmm

I had a look on the internet for images of chrysanthemum arrangements to inspire me and it was a struggle to find anything that didn't look 'old lady' (no offence to old ladies, particularly as I'm fast approaching one). These bouquets are pretty.

Well I've tried but I don't think I'm a convert to Chrysanthemums. How about you?