Chrysanthemums

Although there have been attempts to reorganise this hugely popular group of daisies under names such as dendranthema and leucanthemum, most gardeners simply call them chrysanths.

For a lively and colourful display almost anywhere in the garden the annual painted daisy C. carinatum, sometimes called C. tricolor, is very good. It is easily grown, whether sown in the spring or the autumn, and makes a fine, long-lasting cut flower.

Mixtures such as 'Rainbow', 'Court Jesters' and 'German Flag' all have extravagant blends of contrasting colours arranged in concentric rings on each of the single blooms.

Today's chrysanthemums are highly evolved flowering plants. A member of the Asteracea (Compositae) family, the chrysanthemum (dendranthema) is related to dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias and cosmos. The bloom which appears as a single flower is actually hundreds of flowers called florets. Two kinds of florets are present in a single bloom, disk florets and ray florets. On a daisy type chrysanthemum the outer parts are ray florets and the center or eye is composed of disk florets. For ease of identification the National Chrysanthemum Society divides bloom forms into 13 classes.

Chrysanthemums provide an array of shapes and sizes to fill the winter border and a varied spectrum of colours. Look out for the warm hues of rose-tinted, apricot-yellow 'Mary Stoker' and the unusual garnet red of 'Ruby Mound' or cooler shades of creamy white 'Pennine Oriel' with their lovely, large, pale yellow centres.

Chrysanthemums will often survive in full bloom outdoors beyond the end of November. Even in cold or excessively wet conditions they still outlast anything else in flower. You can also raise greenhouse blooms to cut and bring indoors or to enter competitions. Spray varieties are the easiest for floral arrangements.

The best type for late autumn colour are those that grow in sprays. They produce a mass of smaller blooms that are less likely to rot in wet weather.

Among some of the first cultivars to flower, the Koreans and rubellum group are probably the most dependable and come in a diverse range of colours and shapes.

'Fairy Rose' was one of the original Koreans with single, bright pink blooms growing to 45cm (18in). 'Duchess of Edinburgh' is a favourite and has single, garnet flowers with greenish yellow centres.

The Chinese were growing chrysanthemums as long as 2,500 years ago, first for medicinal purposes and later as ornamentals.

Large, decorative blooms have figured in Japanese gardens and their art for centuries, but it was not until 1789 that the first chrysanthemums arrived in Europe.

French merchant Pierre Louis Blancard brought the first plants from China, by 1802 he had raised ten cultivars.

This number jumped to 30 within a decade and today there are more than 650 varieties available from garden centres, and even this list is incomplete. Of these, 77 hold the Award of Garden Merit given by the Royal Horticultural Society for plants with outstanding merit.

Many are specialist plants, bred for a particular purpose, such as for competition showing or commercial cut-flower production.

Some experts refer to the genus as Dendranthema, but botanists have fortunately seen fit to restore the name of chrysanthemum. They have no common name, but some people call them 'chrysanths' and Americans call them 'mums'.