Mums – as chrysanthemums are affectionately known – are true stars of late summer flower borders. Choose from traditional spray chrysanthemums, grown for cut flowers, or hardy varieties which flower their socks off through October and November, when everything else is retiring for winter.
Spray mums require a little more care: plants need staking, and if you want larger blooms you’ll also have to master disbudding (removing sideshoots). It’s not compulsory, though: if you don’t disbud, you get more, smaller flowers. Hardy chrysanths are even easier: just plant in rich soil in a sunny spot, sit back and enjoy an explosion of blooms that last till the first frosts every year.
