Martin Fish’s tips on growing chrysanths for cutting
Growing them is so simple if you want a few bunches for the house
For a selection of colourful cut flowers from late summer through until late autumn, chrysanthemums take some beating. If you want to grow for the show bench, where flowers need to be in perfect condition and timed for individual shows, the growing can be very time consuming and involved, but if, like me, you simply want a few bunches of flowers for the house, growing is very simple indeed.
The range of different colours and forms of chrysanthemum now available to home gardeners has greatly increased over recent years. They basically fall into two groups; sprays that have many flowers on a stem and blooms, where you only allow one main flower to form. Nurseries, such as Chrysanthemums Direct (www. chrysanthemums direct.co.uk; tel: 0800 046 7443) who exhibit at all the major flowers shows with stunning displays, offer more than 400 different varieties of rooted cuttings, many of which they also grow commercially as cut flowers for the UK market.
By growing a selection of different varieties, you can easily have cut flowers over several months.
A couple of years ago I bought some rooted cuttings at a show in July and they produced some lovely stems of cut flowers in October and November in the polytunnel. Earlier flowering-types can be grown outside in the garden and will often produce a second flush of blooms after picking.
As cut flowers, chrysanthemums have a good vase life and when picked just as they’ve opened, they’ll last in water for up to two weeks. To prolong their life, change the water every few days to prevent it becoming stagnant.
Once the flowers have finished for the season, cut the stalks down and keep the stools frost-free over winter. In spring new shoots appear and these can be taken as cuttings to produce new plants. This year I’ve grown mainly sprays, but next year I’m going to grow more blooms.
Watch this space!