Mums Steal the Show
Longwood Gardens’ festival honoring the ubiquitous fall flower includes a single chrysanthemum plant with 1,500 blooms
Longwood Gardens kicks off its annual Chrysanthemum Festival this weekend, showcasing thousands of living chrysanthemum plants and more than 80,000 flowers in its 4-acre conservatory. The festival, the largest collection of mum forms in North America, follows in the Asian tradition of growing and manipulating these plants into artistic and complicated forms, including spirals, orbs and cascades.
The event’s showstopper is the Thousand Bloom Mum, which is exactly what it sounds like: one plant with 1,000 blooms. “This year, we will have more blooms than ever before,” says Patricia Evans, Longwood’s communications manager. “This amazing plant features over 1,500 perfectly placed, uniform blooms on one plant.”
Even if you can’t make it to Pennsylvania by Nov. 19, when the festival ends, you can still enjoy these stunning displays of labor and horticulture.
The event’s showstopper is the Thousand Bloom Mum, which is exactly what it sounds like: one plant with 1,000 blooms. “This year, we will have more blooms than ever before,” says Patricia Evans, Longwood’s communications manager. “This amazing plant features over 1,500 perfectly placed, uniform blooms on one plant.”
Even if you can’t make it to Pennsylvania by Nov. 19, when the festival ends, you can still enjoy these stunning displays of labor and horticulture.
Every year, the designers push themselves to incorporate more plants and try new shapes, including clouds, arches, spirals and pagodas. “Some forms are traditional favorites seen every year, such as the baskets, columns, curtains and shields,” Evans says.
The preparation for the festival begins more than a year in advance, with the Longwood staff growing thousands of chrysanthemum plants in another part of the garden, and then training, manipulating and nurturing them throughout the year. When it’s time for the festival, the staffers transport the thousands of plants into the conservatory, arranging them throughout the space and planting potted mums directly in border beds.
The preparation for the festival begins more than a year in advance, with the Longwood staff growing thousands of chrysanthemum plants in another part of the garden, and then training, manipulating and nurturing them throughout the year. When it’s time for the festival, the staffers transport the thousands of plants into the conservatory, arranging them throughout the space and planting potted mums directly in border beds.
The star of the show is the Thousand Bloom Mum, where a single stalk supports a dome of perfectly formed flowers. This year’s plant has 1,500 blooms, up from all previous years at Longwood and the largest Thousand Bloom Mum ever grown outside Asia.
From a 2011 Longwood blog post, you can get a sense of the intricacy of its creation, which involves constantly pinching, tying and framing the plant beginning more than a year out from the festival. The staffers control the growth and bloom of the plant so that, by the time the festival rolls around, they have created a perfectly globular plant roughly 4 feet tall and 9 feet across that’s covered with flowers.
From a 2011 Longwood blog post, you can get a sense of the intricacy of its creation, which involves constantly pinching, tying and framing the plant beginning more than a year out from the festival. The staffers control the growth and bloom of the plant so that, by the time the festival rolls around, they have created a perfectly globular plant roughly 4 feet tall and 9 feet across that’s covered with flowers.
Some of the chrysanthemums are trained into hanging orbs.
Others are trained as trees, sprouting from a central stalk.
While many of the mums showcased are the traditional yellow or orange, the festival features all colors and flower shapes.
The plants are all living and must be watered and maintained throughout the show.
Chrysanthemums at home. Although the flowers shown at this festival are beyond what most home gardeners will want or be able to tackle, there are plenty of opportunities for bringing mums home, whether grown in containers or in the ground.
Of the many varieties to choose from, the most available and popular is the florists’ chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum). Yellow, orange and red are the most traditional colors, but florists’ mums come in every hue from white to purple. You’ll also see a range of shapes and sizes.
Botanical name: Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum
Common names: Florists’ chrysanthemum, garden mum
Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 31.7 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 4 to 10; find your zone)
Water requirement: Regular
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 1 foot to 5 feet tall
Growing tips: You can plant blooming plants in fall in well-draining soil for immediate fall color. “Cut them back to about 8 inches above the ground when they finish blooming,” writes Marianne Lipanovich, a California-based writer and editor and a Houzz contributor. “Cover with sand, sawdust or a noncomposting mulch if you want.” Gardeners in extremely cold climates will need to bring the plants inside over winter. Mums can be divided every few years.
Of the many varieties to choose from, the most available and popular is the florists’ chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum). Yellow, orange and red are the most traditional colors, but florists’ mums come in every hue from white to purple. You’ll also see a range of shapes and sizes.
Botanical name: Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum
Common names: Florists’ chrysanthemum, garden mum
Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 31.7 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 4 to 10; find your zone)
Water requirement: Regular
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 1 foot to 5 feet tall
Growing tips: You can plant blooming plants in fall in well-draining soil for immediate fall color. “Cut them back to about 8 inches above the ground when they finish blooming,” writes Marianne Lipanovich, a California-based writer and editor and a Houzz contributor. “Cover with sand, sawdust or a noncomposting mulch if you want.” Gardeners in extremely cold climates will need to bring the plants inside over winter. Mums can be divided every few years.
Where: Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
When: Oct. 7 through Nov. 19, 2017; open 9 a.m to 6 p.m. daily, and until 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in October (except Oct. 7)
Cost: $12 to $23
Longwood Gardens has displayed chrysanthemums every fall since 1924. “The grafting and training of chrysanthemums into artful forms is a respected art form that is honored annually during festivals in both China and Japan,” Evans says. “Today, the festival has grown into our most intricate and labor-intensive display of horticulture.”