Chrysanthemums can be classified as perennial or annual flowers. Unless you are a long-time gardener, there may be some difficulties telling the difference between the two.
As explained above, perennial chrysanthemums will die back their top growth at the end of the growing season and then the following spring new growth emerges from the rootstock each year. Eventually, the plant will grow even bigger in size until it is maxed out.
Conversely, annual chrysanthemums last only one season of growth. However, you can transition annual chrysanthemums into perennials by overwintering.
This means that even if they do die back at the end of the growing season, you could technically replant them for multiple seasons or years.
What are Common Annual Chrysanthemum Species?
Chrysanthemums, or mum, are grown in a pot by most people, and are treated as annuals – just to toss the remainder of the plant at the end of the growing season.
This plant is essentially a color addition to outdoor areas.
I mean, the yellow color of the mum plays off the green colors in your backyard.
Annual garden mums are tough. They can survive down to -5oC in regions that don’t get a lot of snow and frost.
Here’s a pick of some notable annuals.
Painted Lady
The Painted Lady has single flowers with a purple center and bands of different colors surrounding.
The shrub is bushy and compact. The plant grows to 60cm in height.
Crown Daisy
The Crown Daisy has distinctive fern-like foliage and grows up to 45cm tall.
Its flowers come in three arrangements:
- Single
- Semi-double
- Double
Regarding color, they range from white to golden-yellow.
Perennial Garden Mums
Perennial mums are durable because you cultivate them for many seasons.
You may grow them in containers; however, the majority prefer to put them in the garden.
The best time to plant a perennial mum is in the spring, when they start to grow.
Here are a few popular types of chrysanthemum.
Korean Chrysanthemum Hybrids
These tough perennials reach 45cm wide and 60cm tall.
They have lobed leaves and pink and red daisy like flowers.
Certain plants have apricot and yellow varieties.
Double American Spray
The Double American Spray is different from other perennial plants in that it has a tendency of needing extra attention in the winter months.
It has flowers in bronze, pink, white and yellow.
How Do I Grow Chrysanthemums?
Begin by acquiring chrysanthemum seedlings or rooted cuttings in spring.
Then, pot them in a container after the danger of frost has passed, ideally in late May. The soil should be moist and well-drained.
- To get a better crop:
- use manure compost
and put in a shaded location with plenty of sunlight.
After buds begin to develop, remove the ones that are along the length of the plant and leave the buds at the top.
This encourages vertical stem growth.
Staking will be important to grow chrysanthemums, no matter what type.
At the start of autumn, lift the plant, make cuttings, and store them in a dry frost-free area.
If you want to provide cut flowers, you can grow tender chrysanthemums indoors or in a greenhouse.
Otherwise, if you only want to beautify your house, you can simply grow in pots. No matter what purpose you have, the only thing to pay attention to is that you will need to bring the plants indoors during the autumn to achieve flowering.
How Do I Take Care of Chrysanthemums?
It is important to have a continuous water source for your chrysanthemums.
The preferred time to fertilize is again in the spring until the beginning of summer.
Once you begin to see flowers appear from the buds, you can stop fertilizing the plant.
When the plant reaches a height of 20 cm, start cutting the buds off the top of the plant to promote side shoot growth to produce more flowers.
If you want the plant to have just one stem, cut the side shoots.
If you’d like to make annual mum plants into perennials, cut them all the way down to the ground in the fall and allow them to overwinter in the ground.
You will then be followed to move them to a pot to begin them next growing season.
How Do I Propagate Chrysanthemums?
Chrysanthemum propagation is best done using the plant’s basal stem cuttings.
This should be done once you see healthy new shoots emerge at the base of the plant, ideally after the shoots get to about 6cm (2.5 inches) above the ground.
It is best to water the parent plant the day prior to taking cuttings.
On the day of cutting:
- Take a sharp knife and slice off the cuttings, gently peeling back the leaves, except for three at the top.
- Next, take the cutting and put it into a pots of wet compost.
- Put the pot into a propagator, or alternatively put the cutting into a transparent and closed plastic bag.
- When the cuttings are growing healthily, and budded well, remove the bag and transplant to a medium of growth that will not frost.
Troubleshooting the Challenges Faced When Growing Chrysanthemums
Your chrysanthemum plants are less likely to be affected by pests and diseases when the conditions are right for growth.
White rust is one of the most prevalent diseases of chrysanthemums. It is a fungus that primarily infects plants in the transition from summer to fall.
We can observe general symptoms of white rust infection on plupart blank only vulnerable.
Watering leaves in the subject plants is to show sympotoms similar to, in certain degrees, to leaves would show stunted leaves with light brown annular spots on the uppersurface and actual what appear to be white rust spumous pustules on the underside.
Like other fungals, it would seem that susceptibility to white rust tends to be in autumn.
It is recognized by some symptoms including wilting, stunted growth, and finally kill or two will reason.
If you begin to see these sorts of symptoms, then its critical in what appears to be like harvesting the damaged infected leaves, then applying appropriate fungicides and avoid cuts from any section, unless.
This one you want to especially be forward on, this is especially upto in popular social media contact to rootstocks if persisted from winter and gone treat on infected is very bad for the roots.
Wrapping Up
Cultivation of certain varieties of chrysanthemum, which began as early as 1500 B.C., started in China.
The stems were used as herbs and the leaves and roots were used as food. Different varieties have spread to various countries around the world.
Today, the majority of uses for chrysanthemum are for ornamental use.
Even if all you do is bring an orange/red/yellow bouquet of these beauties indoors, they will add color to your environment.
Chrysanthemums are perhaps the best flower to grow because they are hardy and you don’t have to be the world’s greatest gardener to grow them.
However, it is best to plant them if frost has past to lessen the chances of a fungal infection called white rust.