62 
II o u s e & Garden 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR THE AUTUMN GARDEN 
Long After the Frosts Have Destroyed the Other Flowers, the Hardy Mums 
Will Fill the Beds with a Wealth of Bloom 
I N the minds of many of us the hardy 
chrysanthemum is simply the old-fash¬ 
ioned purple kind which it seems impos¬ 
sible to kill. We do not realize that the present- 
day types, while perhaps not so hardy, show a 
wonderful diversity of color that every garden 
enthusiast should know. 
The little button or pompon ’mums which 
are grown extensively are perfectly hardy, and 
as a rule are the latest to bloom. So far along 
is their flowering season that in too many cases 
the early frosts have blackened the foliage and 
injured to some extent the perfect development 
of the flowers. 
In New Jersey there are many wonderful 
gardens made almost entirely of the single 
’mums. Some of the very finest types of singles 
have been raised by amateurs, notably Mr. 
Francis H. Bergen, of Summit, whose gardens 
in the fall are visited by hundreds of people. 
The old Indicum, which was the original type 
of the ’mum, was a small yellow variety, and 
the singles are somewhat of a reversion to it. 
Today, the beautiful and varied colors, size of 
the flowers and the unquestioned hardiness of 
CHARLES H. TOTTY 
the varieties introduced during the past five 
years render them almost unapproachable for 
the hardy garden. So prolific are the singles 
that in the spring hundreds of young seedlings 
can be picked up around the parent plants in 
the garden, all of which are of different varie¬ 
ties, since ’mums do not come true from seed. 
People who have not seen varieties like Mrs. 
Ida Skiff or Mrs. Wm. Buckingham growing 
outdoors have no conception of the beauty of 
these singles at their best. 
Early Flowering Sorts 
There is another class of chrysanthemum 
about which there has been considerable talk 
during the last few years—the early flowering 
type. True, some of them are not entirely 
hardy, but they are useful because they come 
into flower the first of October and will give six 
weeks of continuous bloom in the garden. Some 
of these varieties can be disbudded and grown 
quite as large as some of the greenhouse types, 
if large flowers are desired. Personally, I pre¬ 
fer the graceful sprays which in the case of 
these varieties are most effective. Half a dozen 
very fine named sorts of the early flowering 
type are: A. Barhan and Firelight, both 
bronze; Chas. Jolly, pink; Cranfordia, yellow; 
Debutante, white; and Petit Louis, lavender. 
Where plantings of this type are made they 
will die out in very severe winters, but the stock 
can be readily replaced if a few plants of each 
variety are set in a cold-frame, root cellar or 
some similar place where they will winter per¬ 
fectly. In the spring the roots can be broken 
up, furnishing as many plants as may be de¬ 
sired. 
The chrysanthemum is a lovable plant that 
amply repays one for all the time and care 
lavished upon it. Culturally speaking, it gives 
less trouble than any other flower. It is not 
particular as to soil, blooming profusely in 
sand, clay or prairie loam, the latter being the 
heavy black soil not found in the East. 
When the spring growth is commencing on 
the old plants the best thing to do is break up 
the clumps and replant the little shoots, unless 
one particularly desires large clumps. I have 
(Continued on page 94) 
Through the glorious weeks of Indian Summer the hardy chrysan¬ 
themums spread their harmony of color across beds from which ail 
other flowers have vanished. A wealth of different tones is theirs, 
all in perfect keeping with the bronze and gold of autumn 
Lilian Doty is a large, tall- 
growing sort with pink petals 
that curve inward toward the 
center of the flower 
Normandie is one of the early 
flowering chrysanthemums. Its 
blossoms are white, slightly 
tinted with pink 
