Stopping to smell the flowers

Sweet Peg Chrysanthemums are associated with fall, frost, and football. Two groups of chrysanthemums are available to home gardeners. In the fall garden when summer annuals are waning, Big Box garden centers and grocery stores feature pot or "florist mums" in full bloom. They have been greenhouse grown to satisfy the need for instant color in the landscape, however fleeting. When blossoms die, shortly thereafter the entire plant does too giving them the nickname compost pile mums.

In contrast, the old- fashioned hardy perennial "garden mum" will perform year after year. Garden mums share space with summer perennials in full sun and organically rich well- drained soil. Dwindling daylight signals the plants bloom cycle, often from October through early December. Plants die back with extended hard freezes but, like other perennials, they appear again in spring. Garden mums are easy to propagate by division or stem cuttings. They require little maintenance and have few pests or diseases. They make excellent cut flowers for long- lasting indoor bouquets too.

On a recent 32º morning at Riverbanks Botanical Garden, garden mums were at their best. Cultivars are planted en masse among perennial beds. The blossoms resemble asters and daisies, close botanical relatives. All cultivars cater to autumn butterflies:

•Chrysanthemum Country Girl has a glorious display of white flowers suffused with pink or lavender and with orange discs.

•Chrysanthemum Virginia Sunshine has yellow single daisy- like flowers with yellow center discs. The prodigious bloomer grows to a height of 2 feet.

•Chrysanthemum Will's Wonderful is a bicolor rusty and mauve 1" flower on 3- 4 foot stems.

•Chrysanthemum Emperor of China is a large regal white and blush double- flower with quill- like petals on 3- 4 foot stems.

• Chrysanthemum Sweet Peg is a diminutive plant growing 12- 18 inches tall with pink semi- double ?" flowers.

•Chrysanthemum Cathy's Rust with rust colored petals grows 2- 3 feet tall flowering from August to frost.

As other plants go dormant, garden mums provide captivating color in the fall landscape.

Emperor of China Sources for Garden Mums

www.bluestoneperennials. com

www.lazyssfarm.com

www.nichegardens.com www.petalsfromthepast. com

Will's Wonderful Cathy's Rust Country Girl Virginia Sunshine