Heirloom Chrysanthemums

I’ve always considered myself to be a minimalist, my plant purchases were well thought out and it never occurred to me to buy more that one of a variety. When I met my husband all of that changed! He grew up in Seattle and he introduced this suburbanite to the Washington Park Arboretum and the fabulous Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden  It was all familiar stomping grounds to him. He orchestrated our many visits to the Volunteer Park Conservatory to see the ever-changing displays in these beautiful historic greenhouses. Due to this inspiration and my husband’s encouragement, our place here in Granite Falls is brimming with a beautiful mix of mature Viburnums, Witchhazels, Japanese and Sugar Maples.  If it has fall color, cones, fruit, or flowers it is likely we have it and, yes, you will probably find more than one!

When the gardening world started buzzing about Heirloom Chrysanthemums a few years back I threw my hat into the ring and ordered the minimum of five varieties to experiment with. Boy, have I been impressed with the results! Chrysanthemums of the type you see in the grocery store are relatively easy to grow in a hospitable environment, but I’ve learned that taking an English mum from a hard to acquire little cutting all the way to a beautiful exhibition size flower requires a bit of attention! Lately, English mums have become so popular it’s a competition to get your hands on even a few cuttings of the special varieties that produce these huge, intricate, fall flowers with vibrant colors that make me swoon! I was so impressed with last years results that, after tons of encouragement from my husband…(him saying “do it”, me saying “but where will I put them all?”) I went ahead and purchased 25 (OMG!) special Heirloom Chrysanthemum varieties because it’s really, really hard to pick just a few. I also joined the Mum Club!

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