All the Dirt on Gardening

Chrysanthemums are the queens of the fall flowers whether they are in pots, baskets, or cut flower arrangements. Because they are so easy to grow and breed, chrysanthemum varieties have multiplied. Faribault Growers (faribaultgrowersinc.com) divides their mail order plants into 3-categories: Garden Decorative, Football and Novelties. Novelties are spiders, cushion, and Matchstick. Footballs have 4 to 7-inch blooms. Garden Decorative mums are the ones we find in local stores as plants. Diana Hartman, president of the Oklahoma City Chrysanthemum Society said, “The plants you can get at home improvement stores are freeze hardy in Oklahoma.” Lanna King of King’s Mums said, “Heat and rain are not a problem for chrysanthemums as long as you plant them in well-drained beds.” Tips for your potted mums – Put drainage holes in any pot wrapping paper. Give them a sunny location and moderate water. When the flowers fade, cut off the dead pieces, put the plant in a bright spot like the garage, and ...

Diana Hartman is the president of the Oklahoma City Chrysanthemum Society. We had a good visit this Saturday and she explained how mums are grown for show blooms. Hartman takes cuttings from March to June, roots the cuttings in her greenhouse, then trains each of them onto a bamboo stake. She removes all of the leaves and buds (called disbudding ) below the one show bloom so the plant can reserve its energy to produce one, large, perfect flower. The National Chrysanthemum Society at www.mums.org is a resource for all things mum. Clicking on the mums.org map shows that there are very few chapters - none in MO, KS, AR, NM, etc. Hartman and her chrysanthemum buddies are the only chapter in our area. They started their chapter 5-years ago. In an email conversation, the largest U.S. mum specialty grower, King's Mums told me that they are going out of business. Hartman said that when they close, it will be the end of an era since members usually bought their plants from the California s...