To Get The Best From Your Chrysanthemums

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28979, 21 August 1959, Page 10

To Get The Best From Your Chrysanthemums

One often hears amateur gardeners complaining that their chrysanthemums have done no good at all the second year after planting. They do not seem to realise that to be successful with these plants they must be grown singly each year. When the plants are first set out, they are all single stems, well rooted; but the second year the single stem has died down, and its place is taken by from one to perhaps 59 suckers. The single one may do well, but the 50 will be much too overcrowded. The best way, either for garden decoration, cut flowers, or for blooms for show purposes, is to make each of the suckers into cuttings. A cutting suckers and cutting it just below the level of the'ground with a sharp knife, and putting it in a pot or box of some light, sandy is made by taking one of the soil to root. If pots are used, five or six cuttings can be put round the edge and the potting material rammed well round each one. If the leaves at the top are very big they can be cut off also, but the top or crown of the plant must not be injured. Each variety should be labelled separately with its name and colour, and then there will be no trouble from getting too many of one colour. For normal garden purposes, where this specialising is not possible, the old clumps should be lifted, broken up, and strong young green suckers with roots planted out in the same way. Leaving the old crowns for some years without this attention always results in a decline in health and quality.