by Wendy Diaz, Durham NC Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer or Durham County
You may have more time to contemplate something new to grow during this cold January. I have a suggestion. Last year, I decided to grow dis-bud (axillary shoot removed) Chrysanthemums for the first time. As I continued to develop my flowering native pollinator and woodland gardens, I couldn’t help but admire and wish I could grow the large spectacular blooms of the East Asian native of Heirloom Chrysanthemums (genus) which I saw exhibited each November outdoors during A Festival of Fabulous Mums at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. This floral display is hosted by members of the Central Carolina Chrysanthemum Society (CCCS) at the Ruth Mary Meyer Japanese Garden in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum.
Spray form of Chrysanthemum in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum,
traditional Japanese red color of the Meyer Bridge in the background (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
The opportunity presented itself when I was notified by an email from Pana, Master Gardener Program Assistant, that if I showed my Master Gardener nametag to a CCCS member at the State Farmer’s Market in Raleigh on May 4th, I could pick two free rare ‘disbud’ type chrysanthemums (and I bought a third one). I decided to finally experiment and plant these rare ‘mums’; after all, it was nearly 10 years ago when in July, 2016, I attended an educational lecture during a Master Gardener membership meeting and first learned about these plants. I was impressed with the shear variety of size, shape and color of these flowers.
Exhibit of display mums that were grown by local gardeners beside the
Durham-Toyama Sister Cities Pavilion in the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
Joan Matthews is known as Raleigh’s fairy godmother of mums. She has given many talks to master gardeners and the general public. Her mission is to preserve our ‘grandmother’s mums‘ because they can’t be mass produced and as a result are not commercially viable and may disappear.
I never considered planting them until last May because in 2016 I was a novice Master Gardener and these mums seemed to take a lot of effort. At the time, I was more interested in native plants and clearing my yard of invasive species. Then I picked up three small mum plants in 4-inch pots from the State Farmer’s Market. I was handed a little booklet entitled ‘How to Grow Great Big Heirloom Chrysanthemums’ . I used it regularly during the summer and it was very helpful.
Left: My ‘Vegas Showgirl’ 4 inch pot plant at the State Farmer’s Market in Raleigh; Right: Cover of tiny handbook on the care and instructions for growing disbud mums (drawn by Lillian Jones and Malcolm Carroll). (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
Skeptical at first that these small plants would produce buds which would grow into large flowers, I patiently cared for these plants and slowly buds appeared in late summer and grew into larger buds.
Left to Right: Two buds of Amateur J.F. Fournier Class 2A R/B (Reflex); Bud of ‘Vegas Showgirl’ Class 11A P (Spider) and Luxor Class 1 (Irregular Incurve) (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
To my surprise, I had several colorful large blooms to enjoy every time I walked down my front steps in the fall. I had to remove the small extra buds that continuously developed after the terminal bud formed on each stem so the maximum size flower would develop. The rule is only one bud per stem can be allowed to develop.
Page of instructions on how to prepare plant for maximum size blooms from CCCS handbook. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
My first attempt was successful and I was richly rewarded in my novice year growing heirloom chrysanthemums. I attribute my success last year to following the CCCS’s easy instructions and to the more extreme weather which was timed just right for these late bloomers: an unusually high
rainfall in September (over 13 inches) and a warm October and November. The worm castings I applied while they were growing helped too!
Blossom of ‘Amateur J.F. Fournier Class 2A; Blossom of ‘Vegas Showgirl’ Class 11A with a small beetle in the center; (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
Aerial view of globular blossom of Luxor Class 1; Side view of ‘Luxor’ blossom (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
During the summer, I kept several stems on the Class 11 Spider mum, even though it is recommended to restrict this cultivar to 3 stems for large blooms, because I could not decide on which equally healthy stems to pull off and as a result my blossoms were smaller but still pretty and I had a long-lasting cut flower.
A total of 5 ‘Vegas Showgirl’ blossoms (one hidden). Circled area denotes an auxiliary bud that I missed during disbudding. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
I had no problem with disease or pests. I used twist ties and tied each stem to about a 4 foot long narrow bamboo stake (which I had left over after making a bamboo wattle screen for my compost bin). I fertilized them twice a month. To be honest, I don’t think I would have been able to keep up with the disbudding if I hadn’t planted these mums where I pass by every day.
The two tone (red and bronze) color of the ‘Amateur J.F. Fournier’ mum looked great next to the golden fall color of my native amsonia hubrichtii. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
One can grow them in a pot or in the ground, although, I am a little worried I did not mulch them heavily enough for the sustained below freezing temperatures of this particular January even though many of these cultivars are perennial in central North Carolina. As recommended, I did not cut back old stems so hopefully they will have survived this cold winter.
There are 13 classes of exhibit mums and over 1000 cultivars in the United States. The letter symbol are keys to the class of bloom size (AA = the largest bloom cultivars and are grown as disbuds; A = large and should be grown as disbuds; B = medium size and normally grown as disbuds; C = smallest blooms and are usually grown in spray form. The letters refer to color P= pink and R/B = red bronze).
Above: Photo of the classes of mums on display at The Festival of Fabulous Mums, Duke Gardens; Below: The reverse side of the book mark given to visitors at the festival showing the 13 classes of display mums. (image Credit: Wendy Diaz)
The three classes of disbud chrysanthemums that I planted in the perennial bed along my front concrete steps, which had good drainage, full sun and organic soils, were: ‘Vegas Showgirl’ Class 11A P (Spider class); Amateur J.F. Fournier Class 2A R/B (Reflex class) and Luxor Class 1 (Irregular Incurve class). Heights of each cultivar can vary a lot but most types are tall growers.
Tall Quill class 10 blossoms on display during the festival. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
Chrysanthemum cuttings of a limited number of cultivars can be obtained when the CCCS have their sale around the beginning of May in Raleigh, North Carolina at the State Farmer’s Market. The CCCS members propagate these cuttings themselves. More information on growing and care of dis-bud chrysanthemums is provided in the King’s Mums catalogue which contains 160 different mum cuttings but they sell out fast in January.
If you are not interested in growing these spectacular flowers in your own garden and you want to see the different 13 classes of exhibit mums in their prime, mark your calendar for early November and enjoy their beauty with a visit to Duke Gardens during A Festival of Fabulous Mums or if you
are in Pennsylvania, Longwood Gardens hosts the Chrysanthemum Festival in late October. Enjoy gardening this coming year whether you choose to plant dis-bud Chrysanthemums or not!
Wendy Diaz admiring and photographing disbud chrysanthemums at the Festival of Fabulous Mums at Duke Gardens. (Image credit: Wendy Diaz)
Additional Readings and Resources
Longwood Gardens has a page dedicated to the history, care and research related to mums. https://longwoodgardens.org/gardens/our-plants/signature-plants/chrysanthemums
For more information on the Wonderful World of Chrysanthemums visit the Duke Gardens website. https://gardens.duke.edu/wonderful-world-of-chrysanthemums/
The National Chrysanthemum Association is a non project organization that helps you care for and grow your mums and network with other gardeners across the United States. https://mums.org/
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