COME SEE MY TALK ON RAISING CHRYSANTHEMUMS THIS SUNDAY, AT TOWER HILL BOTANIC GARDEN

Hey everyone – – In case you are in the Boston or Massachusetts area this Sunday, I’ll be presenting a talk on training and raising exhibition chrysanthemums – If you are not familiar with these mums, you may be interested in how to raise them yourself, and contribute in saving a fading hobby which only have a handful of interested gardeners passionately keeping alive today. This sad fact was featured in this past weekends’   THE WASHINGTON POST article “A HOBBY SLOWLY FADES INTO THE PAST’. about the National Chrysanthemum Society’s National Show.

THe truth is, you can raise these late blooming plants at home, if you have a cold room or a protected porch ( most boom from October 15 until Thanksgiving). Clearly, these are not your ordinary garden mums or pom poms that you see sold at florists or at garden centers. These are a bit different – tall, amazing fancy mums with fluffy, twisty stems,  huge flowers and graceful blooms. They are easily raised from cuttings planted in the early spring, and carefully trained and disbudded all summer for displays indoors in late autumn.

Although chrysanthemums are relatively easy, there are many cultural tips to know before starting such a venture – much to know about staking, training, disbudding, since these 5 foot tall beauties can quickly fail if you disbud the wrong bud, or time things improperly. COme help be a part of saving these relics from the past, ( really – only 1 nursery sells cuttings in the US, so this is a craft on the edge of extinction). Once so popular fifty to a hundred years ago, the large, exhibition mum may be gone forever unless some of us care enough to grow them.

The class is free, with admission at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, this coming Sunday, November 1 at 2:30 until 3:30. You can register here.