Brighten Up Your Garden With Chrysanthemums
If you want an easy solution to make your garden brighter, chrysanthemums are available in a huge range of colours and types – and you can get yourself plants and seedlings right here on eBay. Chrysanthemums have been grown for more than 2,500 years though they have evolved over time thanks to hybridisation. This gives you the bright colours that will enhance any garden or decorate any home.
Types of chrysanthemums
Also simply known as “mums”, chrysanthemums are a perennial favourite that are among the first flowers to emerge in the autumn garden. The following are some examples of Chrysanthemums:
Anemones: These daisy-like blooms have long, tubular florets that are tightly clustered around a button core. They produce a 4-inch bloom in a single colour or a variety of colours.
Dorothy Mechum: Mums of the ornamental class are used by decorative florists in their creations. Flowers that are more than 5 inches in diameter have a flat appearance because the florets become longer as they advance from the centre out.
Irregular Incurve: Irregular curvature mums have enormous flowers that measure between 6 and 8 inches in circumference. The florets curve inward and completely envelop the centre of the flower. A few florets towards the bottom of the bloom are responsible for adding fringe to the stem.
Intermediate Incurve: The florets of an intermediate incurve mum do not cover the centre of the bloom, as they do on a straight incurve mum. Because of the shorter florets curving inwards, the intermediate incurve's less-compact bloom only grows to a maximum of 6 inches in diameter.
Spider mums: Spider mums are distinguished by their towering, spiky florets, which are available in a variety of colours and sizes. Tubular florets with the appearance of spider legs that can migrate in any direction are produced. The delicate and exotic beauty of this flower creates a focus point in your yard.
Unclassified mums: Because there are so many different chrysanthemum varieties, many chrysanthemum blooms have characteristics that allow them to be classified into more than one category. Those mums that haven't been categorised come in a wide range of colours and sizes as well.
How to care for your mums
When choosing your mums, you’ll find that colours range from pure white through to every shade of pink, burgundy, bronze and mauve to bright lime green. When cut, these flowers can last up to three weeks in a vase (or as a wedding bouquet) provided you change the water and re-cut the stems every few days.
If you’re planting your chrysanthemums, you can do so among shrubberies, perennial borders, and even under roses. They also thrive in pots and bright light indoors, and chrysanthemums prefer a cool to mild climate and a wind-free location.
If you’re buying the flowering plant itself, keep it dry and in a well-lit area, remove any dead flowers or leaves, and after it flowers, trim it to 15cm, and plant it in your garden in partial shade or full sun. To keep them in good condition, add organic slow-release fertiliser at planting and then they need to be given liquid fertilisers every four to six weeks.
If you’re afraid your plant won’t make it with your “non-green thumb”, you will find artificial varieties on eBay that still give you a gorgeous look inside home, without any of the effort.