Right now, the greenhouse tables are filled with rows of big, healthy, and perfectly green mums. Green? Yes, for now, they’re all covered in green buds, but in a couple of weeks, that will change. As the day lengths shorten, mums get their signal to start showing that beautiful fall color they’re known for. And although they might look identical on the tables this week, they’re not as uniform as they appear. Starting soon and going into October, the different cultivars run on overlapping schedules, making sure our fall mum show runs the entire length of the season.
Production Team Manager, Dana Leehy, says our earliest flowering mum is the Aideen ‘Red.’ This cultivar will start “cracking” to show the first glimpses of color in early September. A couple weeks later, the Jacqueline series of mums start popping with ‘Yellow Improved,’ ‘Pink Improved,’ and ‘Orange Fusion.’ At the end of September, when we’re officially in the mood for crisp nights and warm coffees, Chelsey ‘Yellow’ and Beverly ‘Bronze’ appear. Each variety’s blooms continue to open over the course of several weeks, so their displays blend together through the fall season. By the beginning of October, when the beautiful Danielle ‘Red’ mums appear, they’ll join in the continuous stream of color already in progress.
Despite differences in wake-up times, all of our mums do share an important trait: their beautifully symmetrical round shape. And of course, they’re all loaded with buds ready to burst when the time is right. Set your mum where it can see the sun. Outdoors is best, but near a sunny window will work too. Mums need the season’s changing light to know when it’s time to “crack” those beautiful blooms.
