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.

Rose lovers, '13 may be be your lucky number

When I’m giving a lecture on roses I often begin by telling the audience my presentation could be hazardous to their health. 

You see, I know better than most that once rose fever sets in, there is no cure. No matter how many roses one has, there will always be a more appealing one coming up in the 2013 gardening catalogs. 

Cottage Rose was one of my very first Austin roses

Which means rose fever can also be hazardous to the pocketbook.

I myself contracted a rare strain called English Rose fever while living in London in the early 90’s when I fell in love with a new line of “old fashioned” roses created by David Austin.

Jude the Obscure

As a result of a hybridizing program initiated in the 1950’s, he captured the appealing features of Old Garden Roses (roses introduced prior to 1867) such as cupped or rosette-shaped flowers and strong fragrance in bushes that have the repeat bloom and vigor of modern roses.

So before the new catalogs arrive I am giving my pocketbook fair warning – I’ve had a sneak peek at the new US introductions and they all look like keepers.

Years in the making

David Austin and Me

When I visited the David Austin nursery in the UK a few years ago, I was able to take a tour of the entire operation. It was fascinating to see greenhouse after greenhouse filled with seedlings and cuttings in various stages of development.

Every year, 150,000 pollen crosses are made by hand which will produce around 400,000 seeds.  These seeds are planted after being chilled in a cooler for three months.

250,000 will germinate and the resulting plants are evaluated for beauty, character, fragrance, diversity of bloom, disease resistance and potential for use in flower arrangements.

Nine years later, only four to six of the original 250,000 plants will make it into commerce.

Here is the class of 2013:

Wollerton Old Hall

The Yew Walk at Wollerton

This rose is going to be a must-have for me since I actually visited the 16^th century Hall House that is surrounded by one of the most exquisite gardens in England. 

This vigorous rose can also be grown as a climber

Wollerton Old Hall has an intense myrrh fragrance and is said to be one of the most strongly scented of all English roses. The blooms are a soft cream with hints of peach. The bush has few thorns and produces an abundance of flowers over a long blooming season.

                                                     Lady Salisbury

Named to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of Hatfield House, the home of Lady Salisbury, this new beauty boasts old world charm and makes an excellent cut flower. The sugary pink rosettes and matte green foliage are reminiscent of the Alba roses but this modern shrub flowers continuously until frost.

     



          The Lady’s Blush

A perfect candidate for a mixed border, this Lady sports pure soft pink blossoms, a creamy white eye and unusually attractive golden stamens.

              
                                                      Fighting Temeraire

A departure from most soft-colored English roses, this semi-double dazzler features rich apricot petals with a contrasting splash of yellow behind the stamens.  It produces masses of flowers on strong stems and can be trained as a climber

Named after an 1839 JMW Turner painting, this rose has won awards for fragrance and as a landscape rose. Its scent is described as “very fruity with a strong element of lemon zest.”

                                                  Queen Anne

Medium-sized flowers are a pretty rose pink with outer petals slightly paler than interior ones. The flowers are fragrant and stems are virtually thornless. 

If you like the understated charm of old fashioned roses in contrast to large, showy blooms, this rose is for you.

   England’s Rose

This is another must-have for me. The flowers are cerise pink with a spicy fragrance. It throws out large clusters of blooms from May through October or November. And best of all, it is weather resistant! Even with periods of heavy rain the blooms will not ball, and petals drop cleanly.  Yippee! No more soggy blossoms that look like dead mice! 

One word of caution,  I understand the blooms may be small in areas that are quite hot.

So there you go. Six new roses to tempt us. My problem is I want them all, but sometimes it just isn't possible. Since my mountain garden is smaller than the old one in Maryland, I have to consider available space. And then there is that pesky pocketbook!

I've had several people ask me which one to choose if you can only have one. So I consulted the expert, Michael Marriott, Technical Manager for David Austin. He suggests Wollerton Old Hall for its fragrance, beauty and vigor. 

In addition it can be grown as a shrub or climber.

 I actually need a climber by my front porch which makes Wollerton a no-brainer. 

Plus every time I see it in bloom I'll be reminded of that splendid day in that splendid  garden in England.

After years of denial, I'm dabbling in Dahlias.

I was fascinated by Fascination

Until now, my knowledge of dahlias was limited to a magazine article I wrote about them in 2001, and the experiences of my Maryland neighbor Chuck, who planted them every spring.

Most of what I learned for the article I promptly forgot because dahlias weren’t on my list of preferred plants. (They seemed a bit gaudy to live next to my prissy, pastel English roses.)

I did remember they originated in Mexico and were grown by the Aztecs.

 I knew the flowers could be as small as a pincushion or as big as a dinner plate. 

Chuck chucked his collection citing bunny issues

I knew the tubers had to be lifted and stored over winter in areas north of Zone 8.

And I knew this was probably a pain in the neck since Chuck stopped growing dahlias in 2005.

So after years of indifference, imagine moving to an area where dahlias are a  head-turning sight in one garden, and a notable part of local history in another.
 

Dahlias move from England to the mountains.

The first stop is the resort once known as Hampton Hunting Lodge where early visitors  arrived by horse and buggy. 

High Hampton Inn celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

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 thought the land to be the most beautiful place on earth. They purchased the estate from Carolyn’s aunts and renamed it High Hampton.

The couple traveled from Baltimore each summer and enhanced the property by adding exotic trees and shrubs (including one of America's largest Frasier Firs) that still thrive on the front lawn.

Part of the dahlia garden first planted in the 1890's

Caroline Halstead also assembled a remarkable collection of dahlias that were imported from England between 1892 and 1920. A gracious hostess, Caroline invited her guests to pick the dahlias. She also donated extra tubers to Cashiers gardeners.

Today the dahlia garden at High Hampton covers more than two acres and guests are still encouraged to cut and enjoy the colorful blooms.

 Dazzling roadside dahlias.

Heading back towards Cashiers on Highway 107 you can’t help but notice a small garden on the right that is so eye-catching,  your car might just swerve into the driveway by itself.

This riot of color is Rebecca’s Natural Gardens where her dahlias and assorted perennials have been turning heads since1990. 
 

Rebecca waters every one of her plants by hand, feeds them organically and never uses pesticides. The pollinators love her. 

Princess

So do dahlia enthusiasts who travel for hundreds of miles to purchase her beauties and listen to words of wisdom from the Dahlia Queen.

Melody Gypsy and Thomas Edison

I was immediately captivated by a variety called Genevieve, named after Rebecca's Mother. Of course I bought one, despite my previous dahlia doubts. But I had no clue how to care for it.

My first dahlia, Genevieve

Rebecca advised me to dig up the tuber after our first freeze and let it dry out for a couple of days. Then wrap it in newspaper and try to store it in an area that stays between 35 and 40 degrees. 

It’s a tricky tightrope but high temps will cause the buds to swell, if it's too cold the tuber will freeze and turn to mush. Don't wrap them in plastic or they’ll rot.

Even though it’s a time consuming task, Rebecca digs up and stores her tubers each year. Some of them are decades old and she couldn’t bear to lose a single one.

David Austin's Princess Alexandra of Kent

My Genevieve is currently living very happily next to my English Rose Princess Alexandra of Kent.

But cold weather is on the way and I’m worried about getting the winter storage bit right. I’ve fallen in love with this dahlia and don’t want to lose her.

I guess old gardeners can learn new tricks.

Photos © Lynn Hunt

Further down the garden path

A couple of days ago a Dirt Diaries reader visited my posting Leading You Down the Garden Path and commented that my new trail would look fabulous once finished.

That post was written on March 13th.

It occurred to me that between gardening, writing, golfing, traveling, entertaining guests and demolishing the kitchen I hadn't updated the progress of the project since then.

So thank you Karen from Australia,  author of the lovely blog A Gardener's Life, for giving me a dope slap and reminding me I needed to tell the rest of the story. 

Getting from here to there

The plan was to build a walkway from the house down to the waterfall. The hope was to get from here to there without falling down the mountain or ruining my jeans slip-sliding my way to the bottom.

There was no official design design aside from some rough pencil sketches. I explained my vision to our builder Alfredo and he took my thoughts to places I had not even envisioned.

He started by leveling out some natural walkways that would become the path and created a more gentle slope in the steeper areas.

He used 6" by 6" pressure treated spruce to build the steps and filled the interior with creek stone.The posts and hand rails are crafted from local locust. Pine bark mulch was laid down between step sections.

I could not have imagined how amazing it would all look in the end.

The first few steps are built to begin the project

Ferns and hostas now line the steepest slope of the trail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alfredo and his helpers dug out the area that would become the patio

A stone wall is build around the entire patio

The view from across the stream. Ferns, impatiens and a turtle cocktail table!

The trail begins next to the house and winds down to the stream

  

Steps had to be built from the driveway to the path

Another stone wall was built to keep the hillside from eroding

The view of the completed path from the deck

A clematis likes its new home on one of the posts

Nameplates mark plants of interest along the trail

Chickadees soon took up residence in one of six birdhouses

The trail is now finished except for new plants I'll add as time goes on. More ferns and natives (including Doll's Eyes and Pussytoes) are on the wish list.

Next spring we will hold a little dedication ceremony and christen "Curly's Trail" to honor my Dad who loved the mountains, wildflowers, birds and birdhouses.

I think he would be pleased.

Free mountain vacation exclusively for Dirt Diaries readers!

It's August and for most people that means vacation, staycation or as they say in the UK, summer hols.

Unfortunately, the Hunts aren't taking any big trips this year. The pocketbook is still recovering from our month-long adventure Down Under, but that's no hardship since every day seems like a vacation here in the mountains.

My mother and a Daytona friend are coming up from Florida this weekend for the first time since we moved to North Carolina. I'm anxious for them to see as many of my favorite local haunts as possible and I thought I'd invite the Dirt Diaries gang to tag along.

So, welcome to my world. Enjoy your stay.

I'll be back soon with postings on an exciting new rose, dahlias, fairy gardens, terrariums and much more.

In the meantime, be sure to let us know if there is anything we can do to make your mountain holiday more enjoyable.

Moonshine, shower caps and bear repellent are available at the front desk.

Head for Pisgah Forest and Looking Glass Falls (scenes from The Hunger Games were filmed near here.)

Mother's going to love this!

Nature's own waterslide is just down the road.

A trip to the Biltmore is a must

The perennial borders at Biltmore are breathtaking

An espaliered Rose of Sharon

Play golf and check out waterfalls at the same time in Brevard!

Preview one of the settings for the new Dirty Dancing at Fairfield Lake

(What's wrong with the OLD Dirty Dancing?)

High Hampton is another Dirty Dancing destination

Number 8 is High Hampton's signature hole

Visit Wolfe's Angel in Hendersonville. You might see a white squirrel along the way

Or sit by our waterfall with an adult beverage

And enjoy the mountain view from the deck