CHRYSANTHEMUMS 
CULTURAL NOTES 
May I present a few helpful notes regarding the culture of Chrysanthemums. On receiving plants 
from the nursery special care should be taken for a few days until they become established in the pots or 
new location. 
SUMMER PRUNING OR STOPPING 
When the plant shows signs of becoming established in the new position, the growing tip should be 
removed, to induce branching. Generally, it is advisable to pinch out the top of the shoot after three or 
four pairs of leaves have formed, but in the writer’s garden experience even better results may be had by 
removing the tip after the second pair of leaves is mature. Three to five shoots will appear, which, in turn, 
should be stopped, to induce branching. 
The importance of this can not be overestimated. Only too often the garden chrysanthemums grown 
in small places are great sprawling plants, almost like shrubby climbers, which yield crooked stalks for cut¬ 
ting. A little experience will enable one to decide the best number of stoppings for each variety, as some 
branch freely with one or two stoppings, while others must be checked repeatedly. No pinching out should 
be done after the middle of July, as this might bring the bloom too far into the autumn. Under this treat¬ 
ment plants will usually form broad, spreading bushes with erect, upright branches strong enough to bear 
the large flowers coming later. 
FERTILIZING 
From about the time of the last stopping, extra feeding can be given to advantage. As midsummer 
is also the time of greatest heat, extra water should be given if the soil is at all likely to dry out, and the 
surface should be thoroughly hoed, to insure a thick mulch The soil should be watered before the fertil¬ 
izers are applied. This extra feeding is often omitted for the garden varieties, but usually is more than 
worth the trouble. In any case it should be stopped by the time the color commences to show in the flower 
buds. 
STAKING 
The period of midsummer growth is especially important after the last stopping of growth has been 
made, for it is during this time that stakes should be driven beside those plants which grow so tall that 
their stems will not support them. A stake early in the summer will insure the erect growth of the flower¬ 
ing shoots, an item of no small importance when the blooms are cut. 
DISBUDDING 
The first bud produced by a chrysanthemum is called a "crown” bud. On the large-flowered varieties 
this is the bud which usually will produce the largest bloom. Almost as soon as it appears, branches grow 
from the axils of the topmost leaves. If the crown bud is to be saved, those must be removed at once. 
When they are removed, all the strength of the plant rises to the crown bud, giving it a great development. 
If it is not to be saved, and indeed in most of the garden varieties known to the writer it is often abortive, 
the shoots near it should remain. If a single flower is wanted, save but one; if many flowers are wanted, 
all should be kept. Each will develop and produce terminal buds in clusters of from three to six or seven. 
If the strongest one of these is saved, it will produce a large flower, but for garden decoration more should 
be saved, producing "sprays” of bloom. 
The desirability of disbudding varieties of hardy chrysanthemums is largely a matter of personal taste. 
The writer prefers not to disbud any of the outdoor plants except some of the early-flowering commercial 
varieties of Chinese and Japanese sorts and members of the groups known in the trade as decorative and 
early-flowering chrysanthemums. The former are greatly helped by disbudding, and the latter produce mod¬ 
erate-sized flowers of great beauty, both in the garden and for cutting. 
SHELTERS 
By the time of flowering the season will have advanced until there is a danger of frost. Chrysan¬ 
themum plants are quite frost hardy, but the half-open flowers, especially of white and pink varieties, are 
badly damaged. A certain amount of danger can be overcome by choosing portions of the garden where 
frosts do the least damage. The matter of artificial protection each person must decide for himself. Un¬ 
questionably it requires considerable labor to prepare temporary shelter of any kind. Most commonly a 
frame is built over the bed on which hotbed sash can be laid for roofing and the sides covered with burlap 
or similar material. It is to be hoped that in time a strain of early-flowering plants will be found. Those 
who are willing to make shelters for varieties which bloom too late to escape frosts have devised various 
temporary shelters of cloth or sash which give fairly adequate protection. 
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