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A few months ago, becoming enamored of dahlias, I learned and wrote about their many different varieties, origins in South America, etc.
Late in spring, I bought a few tubers from a hardware store and planted them in large pots. Some sprouted but never managed to bloom.
Later in the season, I got some blooming, lovely, healthy dwarf dahlia plants from Shields Herb and Flower Farm. They quickly caught the admiring eye of the local slug population which made short work of them. One night stepping out to check on them, I found the plants absolutely covered in slugs. I picked the critters off, but couldn't keep up with constantly advancing replacements. The dahlias quickly stopped blooming, and the plants faded away.
Until gardening becomes my main hobby (someday!), I’ve decided I can't take good enough care of dahlias. I've given up hope of growing the absolutely striking flowers any time soon.
This fall, my floral interest shifted; to mums, particularly heirloom chrysanthemums, although I admire the smaller grocery story variety as well.
Online, I found several small farms across the country which find, grow and preserve vintage mum varieties. Heirloom varieties differ from the mounded grocery-store type in several ways.
Beyond yellow and purple, heirloom chrysanthemums come in a wide variety of hues. The flower shapes also have a wide range. I wouldn't have recognized many of them as mums, if I hadn't been specifically looking at flowers so labeled.
Some are large flowers with in-curving petals, others have outward reflexing petals. Still others have spindly petals; some look like pompoms, others like paintbrushes and many like sweet little daisies.
Colors range from whites, to pastel pinks and yellows, to bright oranges, reds, magentas, purples and even chartreuse.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, chrysanthemums were a garden staple, popular to the point of annual flower shows celebrating this flower. But commercial hybridization established a common standard with little variety, resulting in a drop in public interest.
Over the last few decades, chrysanthemums have increased in popularity, with more varieties propagated and sold for the first time in many decades.
Some chrysanthemums are cold hardy; others prefer warmer climates. Many years ago, my mother grew chrysanthemums in Maryland which overwintered reliably.
Chrysanthemums bloom in the fall, often continuing into early winter - some even tolerate a little snow. Day length triggers their bloom, and so established plants sometimes bloom briefly in spring as well - although most growing advice says to nip those buds, to encourage more vigorous plant growth.
My new interest comes too late in the season to get any heirloom varieties, so instead I bought a few small plants from a store. One is a pretty pale pink, and the other a violet.
Some dealers are starting to open pre-order sales for mums in the spring. From what I've seen, most growers sell small starts rather than seeds. Once planted and grown, the plants can supposedly be propagated easily by cuttings.
In addition to greater variety in flower appearance, an advantage to heirloom flowers is propagation. Many hybrid varieties are patented, and it isn't legal to propagate those plants by seed or cutting.
From the online shops I've browsed, it seems chrysanthemum starts are much more expensive than other seeds and plants I usually buy.
Many are in the range of $10 for one start, so I probably won't jump into trying to grow a large quantity next year. With such a wide selection of stunning flowers to pick from, I'm not sure how I'll narrow down which varieties to try growing.