Chrysanthemums all bokehed except one by naruo0720
Chrysanthemums are spectacular this year. There are so many beautiful ones for sale in the stores and nurseries that they are irresistible. If you buy them fully flowered, you can put them in a pretty cache pot or urn to display them. Or you can plant them in the ground.
To be successful and have them return the next year to flower, one grower said that you should be sure to buy farm raised chrysanthemums, not store plants that were forced to bloom this season. And when you buy even the farm raised ones, choose ones that have many buds. Those that are fully flowered have finished their work and may not grow again next year.
Plant them in the ground during cool weather which is what chrysanthemums prefer. In hot weather the flowers will bolt and not open gracefully. In the cool weather the buds will open more slowly to become beautiful flowers while their roots will settle in. And this, the farmer said, will ensure that the plant will return next fall. The chances of forced plants or fully flowered plants to live and produce flowers the next fall are slim to none. See here.
The farmer’s recommendation to get the beautiful mounds of flowers that growers get on their Chrysanthemums is to cut the plant back three times during the year. The best way to remember the times to cut them back is to remember the three holidays when the pruning time is due. The first date to cut back is on Thanksgiving after the flowers have finished blooming . The second cut back date is when the leaves emerge in the spring and should be done at Easter. And the final date to cut back chrysanthemums before they bloom is on July 4th. Then in the fall you should be rewarded with the beautiful mounds of chrysanthemum flowers you are now seeing in the store. See here.