Chrysanthemums: How to Grow Them

A lifetime gardener, my mother loved flowers of any variety. Her yard and garden were always filled with a wide variety of flowers which provided a rainbow of color from spring until late fall.

She took great pride in winning the "Garden of the Month Award" for three consecutive months during her 75^th year of life.

A widow for twenty years my mother had little resources and even less income causing many, and especially her gardening competitor for the award, to wonder out loud how she could afford such a wealth of incomparable flowers. Many of the more wealthy citizens of our town spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on soil enhancers, fertilizers, rare hybrid bulbs and flowers, seeds imported form Europe and paid advice from local horticulturists, but to no avail. Mom always won.

Mom' secret weapon was her green thumb. It was this knack of propagation and her ability to create hundreds of new plants from one original plant that explained how she with little means could maintain a garden of hundreds of healthy and beautiful plants and flowers.

Her favorite flower of all was the Chrysanthemum, or Mum as she preferred to call it. Mom had a knack for propagating hundreds of Mums from just a few healthy plants. Her method was a simple one.

Step 1 - Start with your favorite and most healthy plant. After it completes blooming in the fall remove it from its' pot and plant it deep in rich soil in an area that receives heavy sun.

Step 2 - Cut this year's growth back to within a few inches of the top of the soil in which it is planted.

Step 3 - Cover the plant with 4*6 inches of wheat straw and then add a thin covering of soil (one inch). (In very cold climates use additional straw and a heavier coat of soil).

Step 4 - Water the plant only in the absence of rainfall for one month or longer.

Step 5 - Following the last frost of the winter carefully remove the soil covering and about half of the straw.

Step 6 - As the soil grows warmer in the spring remove the remainder of the straw and check weekly around the perimeter of the plant looking for small clusters of tender leaves breaking the surface.

Step 7 - Once emerging leaves are observed carefully use a small tool ( Screwdriver, kitchen knife, etc.) to loosen the soil around the leaf outcropping. Dig up individual leave clusters being sure to include several attached roots and transplant these into small pots filled with rich potting soil and water.

Step 8 - After one month in pot transplant these new plants into rich garden soil in a permanent location.

The true beauty of this system is not just the numerous plants it provides, but having the capability to reproduce your very best and favorite plants.

Yoy too can be an ward winner!