Did you know that the chrysanthemum flowers is native to Asia and part of the Asteraceae family? Chrysanthemums are commonly known as “mums”. The flower heads consist of center disk florets surrounded by ray florets, which are usually referred to as petals. Blooms can range in size from 1” to 8” in diameter and host a wide variety of colors.
Florist chrysanthemums can be hot house forced and are meant to highlight the season. Most people think of chrysanthemums as a staple of fall seasonal décor. Many people adorn their porch and front steps with bright colored fall chrysanthemums and porch pots. The chrysanthemum is the November birth flower.
In the spring time garden mums are favored. Garden mums are meant to be planted in the garden or landscape areas. Garden mums are hardy in zones 4 to 9 and will bloom year after year.
There are approximately 20,000 cultivated varieties of chrysanthemums worldwide. Many florists offer several varieties of chrysanthemums. “Spray” mums have multiple blooms per stem and are often referred to as a “pom”. The most popular of this type of mum is the daisy spray mum and are available in a variety of colors, white yellow lavenders purples and pinks to name a few. . There are also “Cushion poms” which have a ray flowers the curve upwards and are shorter at the center and longer on the outer edges. Also popular are the “button poms” which are about the size of quarter and have only small ray petals in a compact radial fashion.
Single flower stems hosting one larger bloom are called “disbud”. This includes your fuji mums, cremones, football mums, magnum mums and such. The process of “disbudding” means that the growers with mark one center bloom and remove all of the side shoots of a spray so that they can develop a single bloom on the mains stem.
Some of the more novelty varieties of chrysanthemums are the “Anemone” which has a more prominent raised center disk shaped like a pincushion surrounded by ray shaped florets. The “Spoon” Which shares multiple layers of upward facing cupped petals resembling spoons surrounding a center disk. Quill varieties are “fully double” with the most petals of any type of chrysanthemum and a closed center. Sider mums aka fuji mums have slender tubular petals with open tips that hook or curl at the ends like the limbs of a spider.
If you like the fall textures, variety and a large volume of colors choices, chrysanthemums may be your flower. In addition chrysanthemums are low on the pollen scale so relatively few people are allergic. And they host an outstanding vase life for a cut flower with many blooms lasting well into 2 weeks. Pick yourself a stem or two of chrysanthemums today, you will be glad you did!
