Early Blooming Heirloom Chrysanthemums
Heirloom chrysanthemums are a great addition to any garden or flower farm. These aren’t your typical mums that are widely available at florist shops or grocery stores. Think of these as your grandmother or great-grandmother’s mums. When we started growing heirloom mums over ten years ago we had no idea what we were doing and over the years we have learned a lot. All we knew was that we were going to have beautiful flowers in the fall after the abundant summer annual flowers were finished for the season. Here, we are going to talk about the earliest blooming heirloom mums that we grow on our farm in Western Pennsylvania zone 6b, for our cut flower production. These mums usually start to bloom at the end of September to mid October. They bloom before and just after our first killing frost at our location which is typically October 10th.
Prom Queen was the earliest blooming heirloom mum on our farm this year. It started blooming in mid-September and continued to bloom until mid-October. Each plant produced good usable stems for our grocery store bouquets. Heirloom mums typically need to be supported as they grow tall and as a commercial flower grower straight stems are key. Prom Queen was not as tall as the other varieties but it still needed to be netted to keep it upright. The color of this mum is a nice change from the bright bold colors that dominate the fall season. The flowers age nicely on the plant adding several weeks of color to a fall garden.
Paintbox also is an early blooming mum for us. It starts blooming in the beginning of October making it a great addition to our selection of fresh flowers at that time of year. It’s beautiful rusty red orange blooms are a nice size and larger than some of the other mums that we grow that bloom early. They have strong stems with several blooms per stem as we do not disbud any of our mums. One stem of Paintbox would fill a market bouquet. Its a perfect mum for the fall season. This mum was a favorite among our team.
Lav Love is a newer variety for us on our flower farm. We have grown it for a couple of seasons now and find it to be lovely. This vigorous medium height mum, has nice long, sturdy stems with multi branched blooms on top. Lav Love is perfect for a home gardener who wants to have a nice stand of purple flowers for their fall garden. As this mum is sturdy it did not really benefit from the netting that we had in place to support it this season. This summer was very hot and dry and it could have effected the height this mum reached. However it was perfectly tall enough for our grocery store bouquets. Each stem had many blooms to it and they were strong and sturdy. One stem really filled out each bouquet. Lav Love started blooming beginning of October and continued to mid-October.
Matchstick was one of the original heirloom mums that we started to grow over ten years ago. It has been a great flower for our farm as it can start blooming at the end of September and continue to bloom to mid-October. It is a spoon style mum and really does have petals that look like a matchstick. Each plant produces many stems although the stems aren’t the sturdiest of the bunch. This mum needs support for its many stems and blooms. With its unique spoon like petals it really stands out in a bouquet. This mum would be good for both the flower farmer or home gardener to add a unique flower to their fall flower line up.
Harvest Dawn is also a new variety that we have grown for a couple of seasons and we love it. It is very similar to Lav Love in plant size, stems produced, and flower shape. The blooms are a nice rich fall color that are great for bouquets or for any fall garden.
Pumpkin Eyes what a beautiful mum! This is a real show stopper in any bouquet, arrangement, or garden. Pumpkin Eyes is a tall mum that has large warm golden orange blooms on top each stem, perfect for the fall season. As this mum is a tall variety it needs support as it grows. Each plant produced many usable stems for our bouquets and the blooms aged well on the plant if they weren’t all harvested at the same time. Pumpkin Eyes started blooming at the beginning of October and continued to mid-October.
Purple Light is one of the original heirloom mums that we started growing many years ago. It’s beautiful anemone style purple blooms are a lovely addition to our cut flower line up in the fall. This mum produces many long stems per plant with multiple flowers on each and benefits from support, to keep those stems straight. Purple Light is a favorite mum on our farm and we keep growing it year after year. It starts blooming the beginning of October and continues to bloom to late October.
Cranberry Wine is a vibrant light purple/pinkish mum that is very similar to Lav Love and Harvest Dawn in style, shape, and bloom. It starts blooming early October and finishes blooming in mid-October. The blooms age well on the plant making it a good option for the home gardener wanting to have color in their garden during the fall season. Cranberry Wine’s flowers look fantastic in any bouquet as one stem can really fill it out. It’s lovely color is a nice break from the bold vibrant fall colors that are dominant that time of year.
Frosty Morn is another mum that we have grown for years and we keep growing it because it checks all the boxes. It has unique flowers with purple and white petals on top of strong sturdy long stems. Each plant produces an abundant amount of blooms and they are perfect for any fall bouquet. As this mum is tall, it benefits from some sort of support while it grows. Frost Morn starts blooming in the beginning of October and continues to mid-October.
All of the early blooming mums would most likely over winter with no problem to zone 6 with a bit of mulch put on after they are finished blooming for the season. Mulching will help protect the roots during the winter. Mums are a great addition to any flower farm wanting to extend their season of fresh flowers for their markets. These early blooming mums would do well grown outside without any protection depending on the zone they are grown in. Higher than zone 6 they may need to be grown in a high tunnel to protect the blooms from the cold weather.
