{"id":2535,"date":"2018-10-15T05:34:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T13:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2018-10-15T05:39:03","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T13:39:03","slug":"just-an-old-fashioned-mum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/just-an-old-fashioned-mum\/","title":{"rendered":"Just an Old-Fashioned Mum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mums--Old<\/a>The tall asters in my garden are finishing their bloom extravaganza, which makes me a bit sad.\u00a0 It is the last big hurrah of the gardening season and it means that I will have to cut them all back, which is not a small endeavor.\u00a0 It also means that I won\u2019t have another big, Cecil B. DeMille-type flower show until next spring.<\/p>\n

Fortunately there are consolations.\u00a0 The most notable is the imminent opening \u201cClara Curtis\u2019, an old-fashioned chrysanthemum in the back garden.\u00a0 \u2018Clara\u2019 charms with long pink petals or \u201crays\u201d surrounding a yellow center.\u00a0 It has lived in my garden for ten years, suffering with equanimity through all kinds of weather and very little maintenance.\u00a0 With the exception of a few rosebushes that continue producing until hard frost, \u2018Clara\u2019 is the last perennial to flower.\u00a0 Sometimes I have even inserted a few of the lovely pink daisies in the Thanksgiving centerpiece.<\/p>\n

Botanically speaking \u2018Clara Curtis\u2019 is a chrysanthemum, but it is unlike the \u201chardy\u201d chrysanthemums currently packing the pallets in garden centers and adorning doorsteps, window boxes and patios everywhere.\u00a0 Those mums are greenhouse-grown and their growth has been carefully timed for optimal display in late August through early October.\u00a0 The plants are trimmed and trained into the appealing cushion shape that has earned them the nickname \u201ccushion mums\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mass market mums are beautiful and provide welcome color, but unless you get them in the ground many weeks before the first frost, most will not have time to establish roots before the ground freezes.\u00a0 The vast majority of people treat these hothouse beauties like annuals anyway, and after they flower, the plants end up on compost piles or at the curb for bulk pick-up.<\/p>\n

The older, garden mums are sometimes called \u201cKorean chrysanthemums\u201d, even though they did not actually arrive here from Korea.\u00a0 Instead they were most likely descended from Chrysanthemum zawadskii, native to Korea, Japan, northern China and Manchuria.\u00a0 Botanist Graham Rice theorized that the zawadsii chrysanthemums may have been crossed with a Japanese dwarf species, Chrysanthemum yezoense.\u00a0 The result was the so-called \u201crubellum\u201d group of mums, which cropped up in England around 1929 and arrived in the United States in 1936.\u00a0 My \u2018Clara Curtis\u2019 is a rubellum.<\/p>\n

Once the rubellums came to America they fell into the hands of Alexander Munnings, a Connecticut breeder and nurseryman.\u00a0 Munnings promptly crossed them with other mum species.\u00a0 The result was the Korean chrysanthemums, which are distinguished by a daisy-like appearance and a growth habit that is looser and less formal than the common garden center varieties\u00a0 Masses of them bloom each fall around Halloween in the Conservatory Garden at New York\u2019s Central Park.<\/p>\n

Korean chrysanthemums are not easy to find at run-of-the-mill plant merchandisers and big-box stores.\u00a0 I discovered a couple of unnamed peach-colored ones that look very like \u2018Single Apricot Korean\u2019, in a really excellent nursery about 20 miles from my town.\u00a0 Online vendors carry better selections, and they are worth seeking out.<\/p>\n

If you want something that is easy to grow, but still has the look of a modern florist\u2019s mum, try \u2018Emperor of China\u2019, which can grow up to four-feet tall, but is easily kept to a smaller size.\u00a0 \u2018Emperor\u2019s dark rose buds open to fully double pink flowers.\u00a0 \u2018Gay Mood\u2019 is a similarly extravagant yellow-flowered variety.\u00a0 For something a little simpler, but even more striking, try \u2018Cathy\u2019s Rust\u2019, with terra cotta-colored, semi-double petals surrounding large yellow centers.<\/p>\n

Smaller gardens or containers might welcome, short growers like the white, button mum, \u2018Baby Tears\u2019, or the purple \u2018Gilbert Becker\u2019, both of which top out at only 16 inches.<\/p>\n

\"Mums--Old<\/a><\/p>\n

Garden chrysanthemums prefer a sunny spot and absolutely must have well-drained soil to combat root rot.\u00a0 Established plants can get through dry spells, but do better with a bit of supplemental water during weeks with no rain.\u00a0 Promote branching and good flower production by cutting back the tips of young shoots around Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.\u00a0 The plants appreciate winter mulch, which should be removed in early spring.\u00a0 Happy garden mums will multiply via underground roots and can be easily divided every few years.<\/p>\n

For best results, plant the old-fashioned garden chrysanthemums in spring, giving them plenty of time to establish themselves for fall bloom.\u00a0 Right now, you can check out the online offerings and order your choice of colors and styles for spring delivery.\u00a0 Good selections are available at Niche Gardens, 1111 Dawson Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516; (919) 967-0078; www.nichegardens.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Bluestone Perennials is another good source: 7211 Middle Ridge Rd. Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243<\/a>; www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The tall asters in my garden are finishing their bloom extravaganza, which makes me a bit sad.\u00a0 It is the last big hurrah of the gardening season and it means that I will have to cut them all back, which is not a small endeavor.\u00a0 It also means that I won\u2019t have another big, Cecil … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[970,257,1970,1968,186,1971,1969],"class_list":["post-2535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-daisy-family","tag-deer-resistant-plants","tag-fall-blooming-perennials","tag-hardy-chrysanthemums","tag-heirloom-plants","tag-korean-chrysanthemums","tag-old-fashioned-chrysanthemums"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2542,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions\/2542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}