Mums are one of the most hybridized flowers you can grow other than the many orchid hybrids among their species. Hybrid chrysanthemums have been popular since Victorian times. We even have antique stereoscope cards showing 3D greenhouses full of flowering mums in production from the 1890’s. The Chinese have sculpted chrysanthemums into plates and vases during the Ming Dynasty.

We usually have cut flower bouquets in our kitchen and dining area and mums last longer and offer more diversity than most flowers we buy. Certainly they are one of the best values in adding fresh color and changeable interest to your home.

Bouquets of mums add cheer to our home and we enjoy mixing the colors and new and unique types with the standards and pompom types. Check out this link on Wikipedia on the 13 type classifications. Here is the link to The National Chrysanthemum Society if you get a bug to grow these dynamic living works of art as a hobby.

Garden Mum Varieties from Ball Seed available to growers can be studied at the link.

New varieties are introduced each year that perform better and hold their vivid color longer as you will see in the descriptions.

Cypress Gardens is just a fond memory now. Now that it is going to be a Legoland, the focus will not be on floral displays. I always enjoyed the mum festival.

Text and images below are from NYBG  http://www.nybg.org/kiku09/

This marks the third and final year of the Botanical Garden’s elaborate presentation of kiku (Japanese for chrysanthemum).
Celebrate the ancient horticultural traditions and brilliant autumn color of chrysanthemums and Japanese garden plants. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards are transformed into a setting that evokes the designed landscape gardens of Kyoto, Japan. Scarlet Japanese maples glow against Japanese black pines, and golden bamboos flash against other emerald conifers. Undulating masses of ferns and perennials echo the complex topography that is a hallmark of Japan’s classic gardens, while beautifully handcrafted pavilions, known as uwaya, constructed of Douglas fir, bamboo, and reeds and evocative of Japanese garden gates and tea houses, showcase kiku meticulously trained into amazing floral sculptures.
Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden beckons visitors to indulge in fall’s fleeting beauty. The combination of maples, ranging from scarlet to electric orange, and pink, yellow, and white chrysanthemums in spectacular flower transport viewers to the magnificent autumn gardens of Japan.

Follow this link to learn about Chrysanthemums in Pakistan. Here you will get a different and positive sense of a peaceful people. Our media talks only about Pakistan as combative with India and a government in turmoil and at odds with the US government. Surely there is more peace and happiness there than war and turmoil as this link suggests.

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