Growing with Phipps: Mum's the word for autumn gardens, for this year and the next

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Growing with Phipps: Mum's the word for autumn gardens, for this year and the next

Saturday, October 14, 2000

By Miranda Sutton, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Chrysanthemums are a fall favorite, extending the lives of gardens and providing lush color well into the fall season.

Rosie Wise, a grower at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, prepares Phipps' Broderie Room for the Fall Flower Show. She's moving a chrysanthemum plant, one of many that will be on display. (Joyce Mendelsohn, Post-Gazette)

Natives of China, Japan, northern Africa and southern Europe, chrysanthemums are well known for their autumn blooms in temperate climates -- such as Pittsburgh. The chrysanthemum genus belongs to the daisy family Asteraceae, which includes about 200 species of annuals, herbacious perennials and subshrubs.

Every year, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens uses thousands of chrysanthemums to create dynamic displays in the Fall and Winter flower shows. Many varieties and classes are used to create varied effects with an array of shapes, sizes and colors. Additionally, there are numerous ways of growing mums to produce plants and flowers of different shapes.

For example, disbudding is a practice that produces one large flower on a plant. One bud is allowed to mature on the main stem, and all other stems are removed. Disbudding works best on large standard and exhibition chrysanthemums, such as the mums used in Phipps' flower shows. Spray mums produce many stems, all of which produce flowers. To help spray chrysanthemums grow, plants are sometimes pinched to produce more flowering stems.

One chrysanthemum class in particular -- the admired cascade chrysanthemums -- requires a great deal of time and care to produce its beautiful blooms. Depending on the variety, cascade chrysanthemums can range from 2 to 5 feet in height. However, in order for cascade mums to reach full height and bloom for Phipps' Fall Flower Show in October, mum cuttings must be planted in March and kept on a strict growing schedule.

During the spring, the Phipps staff first initiates vegetative growth by providing light to the cuttings in the middle of the night, thereby interrupting the naturally long nights at that time of year. In late spring, staff members begin to pinch the mums so the plants will produce branches, beginning the cascading effect. In early summer, the mums are transplanted into their final growing pots and placed on top of tall frames, which allow the staff to continue to pinch developing branches and control the cascading shapes. The staff also begins to fertilize the mums at every watering, which continues until flower buds are visible.

In August, two months before the show, long periods of darkness are necessary to encourage flower buds to develop. To provide the proper amount of darkness, the mums are covered by a large black cloth for 12 hours every day. This process is continued until the flower buds are about the size of a pea.

This intensive process results in breathtaking chrysanthemum displays at Phipps every year. Be sure to take in these chrysanthemums in all shapes and sizes during the Fall Flower Show: Oktoberfest of Flowers, which opens today and continues through Nov. 5.

This is one of a series of periodic columns by staffers of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Miranda Sutton is Phipps' communications coordinator.