Their names are Chrysanthemum arcticum, C. balsamita (Tanacetum balsamita), C. carinatum, C. coccineum (Pyrethrum roseum), C. fructescens, C. gayanum, C. hosmariense, C. leucanthemum, C. maximum (Shasta daisy), C. morifolium (Dendranthema grandiflorum) and more.
Flower forms are incurved, reflex, spoon and spider, semidouble, single or daisy, pompon, quill, lacinated, brush, anemone, decorative and enticing.
They come from as many places as we do, and with as many sports and seedlings, each a little different from its stock. There are, in the old classification scheme, 160 species including tiny dwarfs for rock gardens, cascading flower fans five feet wide falling seven feet for elegant display, and bedding plants whose faces are familiar but whose names we don't recall.
Flat-orbed and full-petalled florists' "mums" Chrysanthemum morifolium, celebrate American life at every stage: births, weddings, graduation and holiday parties, funerals, commencements, banquets and parades. Regrettably, they have debased the currency of the species. They bloom in patio pots and garden plots as annuals. The hardy Chrysanthemums are disappearing from the marketplace of American horticulture.
Devoted Chrysanthemum fanciers select, liberate or purchase, pamper, propagate, pinch, train, disbud, feed once a week and water once a day if in pots, then take to show and to be judged. Gardeners don't do this for glory. They do it for a joyful life.
Individually the simple roundfaced cultivals are like kindergarten drawings. The public remains unaware of the masterpieces developed over 4,000 years. This is a heritage too rich to be lost.
Culture reposes in the oldest generation. It must be tended, then passed down, or it is lost.
Be part of our advanture in saving the Queen of the Fall Flowers by joining Clouds To Coast Chrysanthemum Culture Club. Full membership annual dues $10.00 first year. Clouds to Coast members must be members of National Chrysanthemum Society, Inc. (USA). If you live outside our Cyberspace bounds, Santa Barbara to San Diego Counties, join as an Honorary Member ($10).
