How long does it take to grow the Chrysanthemum tree at Longwood Gardens. Longer than from May till September. It is a year-long process. The tree this year has 1,100 blooms and took 1,800 hours of labour.
The art of creating the cascading mums is outlined HERE on the Longwood site. They have grown them into shield, fan, tree, spiral, and cloud forms as well. How do they train such brittle stems?
"Often, the branches coming off the main stem need to be bent sharply in order to conform to the spiral frame, so our staff must first allow the plants to wilt and then break the internal part of the plant. The resulting flexibility allows us to get the branch going in the right direction and set the plant to the frame with wire."
And what about the bonsai chrysanthemum trees on display? Longwood says they start training in May.
The Niagara Falls Showcase Greenhouse, Hamilton's Gage Park and Toronto's conservatories have all travelled to Longwood to learn the art of Chrysanthemum growing and training. So while I can't get to Longwood's display this year, the smaller shows nearby will have equally beautiful displays.
The Chrysanthemum is beloved here for late Autumn display. We in the Northern Hemisphere experience the season progression to winter. So Thomas Hardy's Chrysanthemum poem sentiment might apply to us:
Why should this flower delay so long To show its tremulous plumes? Now is the time of plaintive robin-song, When flowers are in their tombs.
Our pictures of Chrysanthemums come from a previous visit to Longwood. They use the Flaming Pear flexibly to create the mirror balls of flowers.
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