Thursday, September 25, 2014 7 comments

How to grow Mums. (If you must.)

Mums have been popular for hundreds of years, but not at my house


I’ve never been much of a chrysanthemum fan. 

For starters, they smell funny.  Many of the colors tend to be gaudy. And the blooms don’t age gracefully.

This time of year I get annoyed when I see hundreds of them lined up in front of roadside stands and garden centers. I know what the mum and pumpkin sightings mean: I am being pushed into fall when I’m not ready to let go of summer.

I  realize that turning up my nose at these harbingers of autumn means I am out of step with much of the gardening world. After all, garden mums (C. x morifolium) have been wildly popular for centuries.  

So despite being a chrysanthemum curmudgeon, I wanted to offer some tips that will enable you to grow these wretched plants to the best of your ability.

From China, with love

Mums were first cultivated in China, possibly as early as the 15th Century B.C. Several species of chrysanthemums native to both China and Japan were used in an extensive hybridizing program that, over time, resulted in the “domesticated” garden mum.   

Mums found their way to Europe in the seventeenth century where the appealing gold flowers received an enthusiastic welcome. Today,  hybridizing continues full speed ahead in the hopes of creating new flower forms and plants that can better tolerate cold. At this time more than 5,000 cultivars have been named. 


Don't want to plant mums? Enjoy them in pots, then discard



Mum care 101                           

 Yoder, one of America’s leading mum breeders, offers the following tips which apply regardless of color, flower form or flowering time:

• Always plant mums in a spot where they will receive at least half a day of sun.  Plant in fer­tile, well-drained soil.  Loosen the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches and mix in peat moss or com­post to condition the soil and improve drainage. Measure from the center of the plant and space mums about 15 to 20 inches apart.

• Water thoroughly, adding 1 to 2 gallons of water to the soil around each plant.  When rainfall is scant, continue to water as needed to prevent wilting.  Keep the soil moist as colder weather approaches.

• Never fertilize the flowering garden mums you plant in the fall.  All the season's growing is finished by that time.  Plants will not need fertilizer until next spring.

• Mother Nature doesn't prune back plants as win­ter approaches and you shouldn’t either.  Let the brown foliage stand through the winter.  Mulch plants after the ground begins to freeze - not before - with leaves, straw, peat moss or other organic materials.

• Prune away old stems and gradually remove mulch in the spring. Pinch mums back from June through July 15 to encourage bushy growth and a greater show of fall flowers.  

So there you have it.Everything you need to know to keep your mums thriving from year to year. 


The dry summer in many areas of the country may mean colors will be more vivid this year. With a little luck and a lot of water, you should have loads of blooms that will last well into October.
           
As for me, I’ll still be enjoying my roses.

Sunday, September 7, 2014 3 comments

I think that I shall never see, Part 2


 
The world's largest Fraser Fir

Back in March I wrote a Dirt Diaries posting called “I think that I shall never see a sight as lovely as a tree."

In kind of a tip of the cap to Joyce Kilmer, I visited nearby High Hampton  to see what winter had done to some of the most magnificent trees in the country.

World's largest Bald Cypress






Bald Cypress in August
For those who may not have seen that posting, High Hampton Inn and Country Club in North Carolina is a haven of southern hospitality where afternoon tea is still served, gentlemen wear coats to dinner and televisions are non-existent. I first went to High Hampton when I was in high school. Days spent there with my Dad are some of my most treasured memories.


The estate was originally a summer retreat for the Hampton family. Wade Hampton III later purchased the property and along with Modecai Zachary, built the Hampton Hunting Lodge. They also built the Church of the Good Shepard which still exists today, and a school for mountain children.

Copper Beech trunk


Copper Beech




In 1890, Carolyn Hampton (Wade Hampton’s niece) married Dr. William Halstead of Johns Hopkins, and the couple honeymooned on the mountain property. Dr. Halstead (who was also an amateur botanist) thought the land to be the most beautiful place on earth. They purchased the estate from Carolyn’s aunt and renamed it High Hampton.


Kentucky Coffee Tree (behind cabin to the right)


Today when you visit High Hampton you can see the world’s largest Fraser Fir, a National Champion Bottlebrush Buckeye, the tallest Bald Cypress in America and several North Carolina State Champs including a Kentucky Coffee Tree and a Black Locust. All were planted over 100 years ago.


I was told this tree was a Weeping Willow



It's actually a Weeping Beech

I took pictures of many of those trees five months ago and promised to come back to show you what they look like when dressed up in their summer greenery.


National Champion Bottlebrush Buckeye









  
So here’s how they all looked this summer. I’ll return to see them ablaze with color this fall. 

But my camera still won’t do them justice.


The trees were magnificent. The gardens weren't too shabby either.
 
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