Live Mull Goldenrod

Old English libban, to live — used as a color word since the nineteenth century for hues that read as active or animate. Live wire, live color: the implication is luminance combined with the optical impression of internal motion. Sits in the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and vibrant.

Middle English mullen, to-grind-or-ponder. As a color modifier, mull implies a slow-pondered-and-warmed-and-spiced quality, the visual register of mulled-wine-and-mulled-thought hand-slow-pondered-and-warmed-and-spiced mulled-wine-and-mulled-cider-and-mulled-thought mulled-and-slow-pondered-and-warmed-and-spiced surfaces under mulled-wine-and-mulled-cider-and-mulled-thought clove-and-cinnamon-and-orange-peel hearth-side-winter-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to muse and brood in usage.

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.