Now, years later in my own garden, there has been an unspoken resurgence of the lovely blooms. Plants are readily available as cheap filler pots in the box stores where everyone yanks out their leggy summer plants and shoves mums in as a filler plant for temporary color next to pumpkins. They simply bide time until winter decor replaces them. But there has also been an effort to cultivate hardy perennial varieties and I do have at least 4 healthy clumps that return each year. To maximize their potential, one needs to prune them back like Sedum mid-summer, which delays their bloom but also forces them to evolve into larger tufts of color. I plan on adding a few more in the future.
But the main essence of my post is highlighting the stunning Longwood Gardens in the Wilmington/ Philadelphia area. I had just read an article about their annual Chrysanthemum Festival which extends into mid November. They strongly feature each of the 13 classes of blooms in artful displays that showcase the magnificent grounds of the site. But what intrigues me most are the ways they have chosen to forge American Gardening with Chinese and Japanese techniques. I was not prepared to see Bonsai mums. And the crown jewel of the entire festival is their giant Thousand Flower plant. By using a vast metal trellis/grid, their staff spend over 18 months training and snipping a single plant to the point where it becomes a massive mushroom of over 1000 single white mum blooms.
The whole display is fascinating and I can't quite comprehend what it would look like in person. Longwood has extensive programming and classes on this process alone. I am on board because it cheers on a flower that most view as only common and filler. This elevates its status to something grand.
