Chrysanthemums steal the show
Do you crave autumn’s warm palette of red, orange and yellow or seek out the cooler schemes of pink, purple and white?
The popular chrysanthemum show at the Niagara Parks Floral Showhouse ( to Nov. 19) offers the best of both colour schemes.
The circular centre house, ablaze with 235 golden yellow, orange, bronze and red chrysanthemums, is just the tonic to warm your heart on a brisk November day. Looking for a soothing oasis of calm? Visit the north greenhouse, where a cool sea of 300 pink, purple and white chrysanthemums will surely soothe your soul.
I stopped by the Floral Showhouse to enjoy the beautiful fall displays and met up with Anne VanNest, a seasonal grower at the Showhouse, for a chat about this year’s display.
Marie Stokes, Mark McDonell and Desiree Constantinides grow some 600 chrysanthemums for this show; Sue Stoll is the designer.
“The chrysanthemum display includes five different forms: exhibitions ( single stem, large flower); bush; fluerettes ( short plants, small flowers); cushion ( small compact plants); and cascade forms. “Within these forms are the 14 flower types: decorative; irregular incurve; intermediate incurve; daisy; quill; spoon tipped; bush and thistle; reflex, regular incurve; anemone; pom pom; spider; gnomes; singles; and Semidoubles.
“Some 75 different types of exhibition mums are grown for the show.”
The pyramid- and tower- shaped mums, that stand 1.5 to two metres tall, were attracting a lot of interest on the day of my visit. I asked Anne how they are grown.
“The pyramids and pillars have several plants that are trained up a bamboo stake or wire mesh. It takes about four months of almost daily attention to pinching, tying and training to produce the pillars and pyramids. The side shoots are frequently pinched so that the plant branches many times and will have many blooms that fill the pyramid or pillar.”
There is a lovely sense of movement throughout the display, with colours and plant shapes. Shades of pink and purple wind their way through clean white and soft greens, giving the whole space a lovely, fresh feel. Ferns, such as bird’s nest, asparagus, sprengeri, foxtail and a few maidenhair, act as a foil for the showy chrysanthemums. Spikes of purple Mexican bush sage ( Salvia leucantha) add vertical interest along with towers and pyramids of colourful mums.
The hanging baskets, really huge globes of flowers, are very impressive.
“The smaller flowering cascade mums are great for making cascades, pyramids, pillars and hanging balls, too. These are started from cuttings in early summer and undergo weekly pinching and tying throughout the summer and early fall. The hanging balls are initially grown as cascades in large hanging baskets. Six to eight plants are each trained down a bamboo stake that projects downward and outward from the large fibre hanging basket. Once they are moved into place in the Floral Showhouse the flowering arms are tied together to form a round ball of blooms.”
While cushions of chrysanthemums are impressive for their rich colours, I love the showy, exhibition chrysanthemums — each flower is so unique. Anne explains how these spectacular blooms are grown:
“Exhibition chrysanthemums are selected to have large, exotic blooms with incurved, reflex, spooned or threadlike petals. These plants are not the same type as the hardy garden mums that can be grown and bloom outdoors in the garden year after year.
“Exhibition chrysanthemums begin life in the greenhouse as small rooted cuttings started in May and June. In July, they start their training with one shoot tied to a sturdy stake and are encouraged to grow upward. As the plants grow, all the buds ( side shoots) are removed. By disbudding the plant this way, it produces one big flower instead of several smaller ones. Weekly tying and disbudding continues until early September. A single lone centre bud is then selected as the final flowering bud.
“Chrysanthemums form buds based on a specific number of daylight hours. When at least 10.5 hours of uninterrupted darkness are received, the plants are activated to form flower buds. This is around the first week of September in Niagara. Once the flower buds appear, most of the training work is completed.
“Chrysanthemums are heavy feeders and flourish with at least a weekly application of liquid fertilizer. Once the flower buds are set the regular fertilizer is stopped. Too much nitrogen fertilizer will result in plants with large, dark green leaves that are very brittle and subject to easy breaking.”
I had the pleasure of touring the Floral Showhouse this summer with a group of North American garden writers when our annual symposium was held in Buffalo. The members have collectively visited many of the important public gardens across North America ( and beyond) and had just spent three days touring spectacular private gardens in the Buffalo area. They were absolutely thrilled to visit the Niagara Parks, and in particular, they appreciated the quality of the displays at the Floral Showhouse. The greenhouse is both beautiful and accessible — it’s a wonderful outing for seniors, camera buffs or anyone interested in taking in the colours.
If you visit the show, be sure to stop by the restored miniature buildings ( formerly at Cullen Miniature World) in the Life on Display exhibit behind the greenhouse. The autumn colours are just reaching their peak, with red, yellow and orange sweet gum and maples, Japanese maples and golden yellows along the magnolia allee.
— Theresa Forte is a local garden writer, photographer and speaker. You can reach her by calling 905- 351- 7540 or by email at theresa_ forte@ sympatico. ca.