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Gardeners' pride

Chrysanthemums are excellent in floral arrangements

EASY TO GROW Chrysanthemums make for a wonderful display

Chrysanthemums are woody-stemmed perennials much grown for their cut flowers and for bedding. Place of origin: China and Japan. Family is compositae. Name from Greek Chrysas (gold) and awthos, which means flower. The two species are bushy soft, woody-stemmed plants with terminal clusters and daisy-like flowers, but quite different from each other Chrysanthemum fruteanscens has aromatic leaves on short stalks. The terminal cluster of flowers are sometimes so numerous that they hide half the foliage. Each flower has a single dense circle of white petals surrounding a single yellow raised disc. There is a variety with lemon yellow petals. They grow up to 3' tall.

The potted plants are pruned by pinching out the growing shoots and they will grow bushy up to 18 inches.

Chrysanthemum mortifolum are usually less than 1' tall, leaves like frutescence but dark green in colour, and flowers have over-lapping densely packed petals that hide the central disc. Flowers can be white, cream, yellow, orange, bronze or purplish. Cultivars are classified according to the way the petals turn and the flower style. They are incurved, reflexed, intermediate, single, pompon and anemaneflowers.

Chrysanthemum is the pride of gardeners, good for bedding, pots, edging, tall plants for the back of border.

They are excellent in floral arrangement and garlands. Propagation by soft cuttings from base of mother plant, also by division, water plentifully in growing season, for good flowers disbudding and staking are vital.

CHITRA RADHAKRISNAN

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