282 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
BORDER CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
By Thomas Stevenson, F.R.H.S. 
[Read November 7, 1916 ; Mr. Joseph Cheal, V.M.H., in the Chair.] 
The term " Border Chrysanthemums " is applied to varieties which 
flower successfully in the open air before the advent of severe frost, 
and as this section is now a very large and varied one no apology 
should be necessary for my endeavour to still further popularize what 
I consider to be one of the most useful plants in cultivation. 
I have heard it remarked by many that they do not like to see 
Chrysanthemums flowering in the borders, for they look upon them 
as a sign that winter is at hand. There are others, and I am one 
of them, who are pleased to see the waning summer, as it leads on 
to the blooming period of various plants that are much less fleeting 
in character than those that flower during the heat of the year, 
and I am sure eve^one will agree that the Chrysanthemum is one of 
the most lasting of all flowering plants, whether cultivated in the 
open ground or in pots for decoration in late autumn and winter. 
In conversation recently with one of our largest growers of cut 
flowers, a man whose aim is to put large quantities on the market 
every weekday during the year, and who naturally puts sentiment 
on one side in his endeavour to make the business profitable, chanced 
the remark that he was always pleased when the early Chrysanthemums 
were ready to market, as he felt, whatever the public were paying 
for the flowers, they were at least getting value for money, and I 
entirely agree with him. Whether the Chrysanthemums are grown 
for display in the garden, or for cutting for indoor decoration, what- 
ever time and trouble expended on them are amply repaid by the 
beautiful effects obtained and the length of time the flowers last, 
whether on or off the plants. 
Every real gardener and garden lover thoroughly appreciates the 
effects produced by the various classes of plants in their seasons, but 
at no season of the year do we see anything that is more in harmony 
with its surroundings than are the various shades of yellow, bronze , 
and crimson of Chrysanthemums, and when these are planted close 
to shrubs whose foliage changes with the shortening days they provide 
a wealth of colour-blending that would need a clever artist to depict, 
and someone with a better flow of language than I to describe. 
In my paper — a year or two ago — on Chrysanthemums in pots,* 
I ventured to remark on the great quantities that were grown for 
* Journal R.H.S., xli. p. 64. 
