Getting through the Paris grey with Mimosa

And no, I am not talking about the drink.

January and February are the hardest months to be in Paris. It’s constantly grey, cold, foggy, and frankly, miserable.

There are few days when the sun shines and the times it does show up, it quickly sets as the days are still short.

On days when I can’t stand the cold and grey anymore, I turn to one of the few things that cheers me up — the bright yellow flowers known as mimosa.

Mimosa branches.

Technically tree branches rather than flowers, I had never heard about this plant before moving to France.

Like many things in France, there are seasons for everything. Food, brocantes, wine, and ofcourse, flowers. And from January to March, flower shops are filled with bright branches of mimosa.

The flowers of the mimosa plant brighten up any apartment or living room with their fuzzy flowers, and even keep their yellow and green hues when they dry out.

While I have come to associate this flower with the grey clouds of Paris, it is not native to France. In fact, it’s thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte that France has this flower at all.

Joséphine Bonaparte’s Château de Malmaison

Native to Australia, mimosa was first brought back to Europe by the English during the first voyage of Captain James Cook aboard the Endeavour from August 1768 to July 1771. In 1800, Frenchman Nicolas Boudin obtained permission from then First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte to head an expedition to the Southern Hemisphere.¹ Boarding two ships, there were 24 scientists, including botanists and zoologists. When the ships returned in 1803, they included branches of mimosa.

These branches are said to have been planted in the garden of Joséphine Bonaparte’s Château de Malmaison. Just an hour to the west of Paris, the château was the home of Joséphine and Napoleon and became a seat of government, with many ministers frequenting the establishment. When Joséphine and Napoleon divorced in 1810, Napoleon gave her the property, which she lovingly cared for and expanded until her death in 1814.

In 1803, Joséphine commissioned painter and botanist PJ Redouté to illustrate her collection of rare flowers from around the world. Published in Le Jardin de la Malmaison, it includes an illustration of mimosa (you can view the full book online thanks to France’s national public library, BnF). Described as having very small, sulfur-yellow flowers and oblong, ash-green leaves, this plant not only became a star in Joséphine’s collection, but from the 1880s became a popular tree to grow in the Côte d’Azur.

The Côte d’Azur’s temperate climate and dry soil allowed mimosa to thrive. It became an invasive species, threatening other flora and becoming a fire hazard due to having flammable substance.

But its cheerful yellow blooms have won over the hearts of flower lovers in France. It has become a symbol of the Côte d’Azur and there is even a Route de Mimosa you can take to discover the best blooms and botanical gardens of the region. And in February the region celebrates the flowers during the "Fête du Mimosa,” which has been celebrated since 1931 .

And for those of us in the grey north, mimosa becomes a cheerful reminder of the sunny days that are still to come.

1. Before he became the first French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte was part of the Consulate, a period that lasted from November 9, 1799 until the start of the French Empire on May 18, 1804. During this time Napoleon was named First Consul and was able to essentially centralize power in France without declaring himself the sole ruler (which he eventually did when he declared himself emperor). There were two other consoles but they were merely figureheads.