The short days and lower temperatures that trigger the kaleidoscope of fall foliage also stimulate a bounty of blooms from one of the nation’s most popular garden plants.
Chrysanthemums in a wide spectrum of colors and flower forms are turning up everywhere, from farmers’ markets to grocery stores, garden centers to big-chain department stores.
Growers and horticulture experts say these hardy “mums,” selling for as little as $2 or $3, could provide nice autumn accents for years to come if they’re handled correctly and Mother Nature cooperates.
“Mums and fall kind of go together,” said Pennsylvania State University horticulture specialist Robert Nuss, who has a few sitting on his own front porch. “Many of our other plants aren’t in bloom right now and they’re a spot of color.”
Though sold year-round, chrysanthemum sales perk up when the air turns brisk. Think of them as the multi-hued flower finale before snow strikes.
“A lot of people in garden centers look at fall as a fresh opportunity to market after Labor Day,” said Dennis Wolnick, a Penn State floriculture specialist who tracks consumers’ flower-buying habits.
The United States produces more chrysanthemums than poinsettias, those ubiquitous symbols of the holiday season, Wolnick said.
In 1995, the last year for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture has statistics, U.S. growers raised 57.4 million poinsettias and 73.8 million chrysanthemums, he said.
The compact, easier-to-grow varieties recently introduced by breeders make chrysanthemums more appealing to both greenhouse growers and consumers, Wolnick said.
“One of the problems with mums in the past was getting them to bloom according to the day length,” he said. “They needed a long number of short nights to get them to bloom. A lot of the new ones, you can hardly hold them back. Some types will start to bloom in July if they’re not pinched back.”
Nuss said when choosing a chrysanthemum, buyers should look for a compact plant with well distributed flower heads and deep green foliage. To ensure a succession of blossoms, they should pick one with buds showing color, he said.
People should stay away from tall, spindly plants with a pale green cast. These may have grown in shade or been deprived of nutrients, Nuss said.
If it’s possible, gently bump the root ball from the pot and check for white- or light tan-colored roots.
“That indicates they’re alive,” Nuss said. “That means (the plants) should get up and running pretty well.”
Dan Harner of Harner Farms, just outside State College, raised 1,600 chrysanthemums for 1997. He ups the number of plants he grows each year by 10 percent to meet the ever-increasing demand at his family’s roadside market and at a downtown farmers’ market.
Harner buys 3-inch-long cuttings that are potted in June and pinched back, or trimmed, through mid-July to encourage more flowers.
Buyers don’t need to fertilize their new mums, he said. They have been given enough time-release fertilizer to carry them through the fall.
If the plants are to be taken indoors, they should be at least 70 percent in flower, he said.
“If you take them in sooner the blooms may never materialize,” Harner said.
Harner said the No. 1 question from his customers is: “How do I get them to winter over?”
“It depends on the winter weather,” he said. “Plant them somewhere protected and then mulch them. We can’t guarantee anything in this climate though. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they don’t.”
Joyce Button’s family raises 30,000 to 40,000 chrysanthemums a year at Tusseyville Greenhouse in Tusseyville, Pa. That number has sprouted up from the 10,000 plants five years ago.
“We used to grow a lot of sweet corn,” she said. “But we figured I could pick up a mum and sell it a lot faster than picking sweet corn and selling it.”
Though the Buttons’ operation sells mainly wholesale, retail customers can stroll through large fields of potted chrysanthemums surrounding 11 greenhouses.
Tusseyville Greenhouse ships 4,000 to 6,000 plants per week to roadside stands and stores throughout south central Pennsylvania. Button said her retail customers usually snap up 30 to 40 plants at a time to add just the right floral touch to autumn parties and weddings.
Button recommends keeping the soil in potted plants moist so the root ball doesn’t dry out.
She suggests gardeners set plants intended to be more than seasonal decorations into the ground a month before the first hard frost hits so they can establish new roots.
Like Harner, Button gives her plants enough fertilizer to get them through this year. Buyers should check the pots for the slow-release granules before adding more nutrients, she said.
To plant a chrysanthemum, Nuss recommends positioning the plant’s soil line at or slightly above that of the garden.
“Put them in a well-drained site,” he said. “They don’t like a lot of water around them.”
The plants should be watered well to settle the soil and given 2 inches of a light, textured mulch, such as shredded bark or wood chips. They should be kept watered throughout the fall.
Two more inches of mulch should be added after the ground freezes to prevent the soil from heaving, Nuss said.
In spring, after the chrysanthemums have grown about 6 inches tall, they’ll need fertilizer, Button said.
Nuss recommended a spoonful or two of a general-purpose fertilizer, such as 5-10-10, for each chrysanthemum.
“The biggest thing, if they come through, is to trim them back around July 20,” Button said. “Give them a haircut and leave about 6 inches. Otherwise, they’re going to get too tall and top-heavy. They need that pinch.”
