Purple Mist Chrysanthemum

Global Warming Chrysanthemum

Dendranthema ‘Purple Mist’

(den-dran' thah-mah)

I have said before that I emphatically resist gardening trends until they become firmly established. It was against this policy that I picked out several Global Warming mums at the nursery. “Latest blooming strain of Chrysanthemum ever” was the advertising tag they were using. I really do love growing the Sheffield strains of mums since you know they are truly perennial and a well behaved garden plant so when the colors on the plant tags indicated colors I hadn’t seen before 8 plants ended up in my basket. I was happy to see they were the same price as the regular perennials. That is usually one reason I don’t like the trends because they usually have an outlandish price premium attached to them.

The mums got planted in some raised stone planters on the terrace and started to bloom. They were really gorgeous and stately. Then the 12 inches of snow came. I quietly thought ‘better luck next year, mums” but when the snow melted they were still in full color. A little broken down but most of the stems sprang back to attention still giving a nice appearance. The bees and Hoover flies were all over them in a full on feeding frenzy before the winter. There are some flowers in the garden right now but they are few and far between (or not full sized) as a few species seem to be trying to throw out a few last desperate blooms. On the other hand the Global Warming mums are in full bloom and look they want to be flowering now (no desperation). We planted three of the five colors available. The off white is kind of a typical Sheffield color but the purple and orange are really special.

Since it is Sunday come join us at Today’s Flowers. Sunday means a bonus snapshot.

Dwarf Double Daffodil
(nar-SIS-us)

This flower is from last spring and was blooming in the collection of dwarf Daffodils. It is a little underexposed but shows the interesting petals of this cultivar.