I had three specimens of chrysanthemum Coral Cavalier at the other house, and they bloomed so profusely and gave me so much pleasure in their season that when I planned the gardens here, I bought a lot of mums. Right now I have three varieties of cushion mums and six football mums.
The football mums are starting to bloom, and I have already learned a lesson. Deer will nip at chrysanthemums but not destroy them. The ones that the deer nipped at are now upright and bushy and ready to bloom bushels and bushels of flowers. The ones the deer didn’t nip are leggy, sprawling onto the deck and the lawn, with comparatively sparse buds.
Reiterating earlier note to self: cut the chrysanthemums back mid-July.
Another interesting observation is that more than one variety, both cushion and football, will put out early blooms in white or yellow and later blooms in purple or pink. Who knew?
I think I need some more pink mums, though. Yes. I’m sure I do.
