Chrysanthemum ‘Hillside Sheffield Apricot-Pink’

We have been working for years to increase our stock of the hardy perennial heirloom Chrysanthemum Hillside Sheffield Apricot-Pink so that we would be able to have enough to get it out into the world for all of you gardeners who have been yearning for those old-fashioned Mums that actually not only make it through our wet winters , but thrive in our climate.

This is the year!

We will be making deliveries of this in a couple of weeks and I will let you know which of our retail nursery accounts will be bringing it in once the time comes.

Vashon Thriftway for sure will carry it soon!

For all you Latin loving nerds, count me in!, it's Chrysanthemum rubellum, also referred to as Dendranthema zawadskii var. latilobum from the family Compositae.

Whew!

Let's just call it a Mum, shall we?

Native to parts of the Urals and Carpathians, Czech Republic, Poland and east across Siberia to Japan, Korea and North China.

***important propagation fact:

It is essential to dig and divide this plant every three years as it wants to increase itself mightily but can't do so without your help.

How does it do this in nature without the help of human hands?

In its native range, it grows on stony slopes with lots of landslides and rockfall which help spread it around and divide the plants by flinging them down and around the mountains.

I plant them on the outside edge of my perennial beds so that I can enjoy them in October when they bloom and more importantly, I grow a bunch of two gall size pots of them for bringing onto our front and back porches while they are in bud---this way they outlast the rain and keep blooming sometimes all the way until Thanksgiving.

One 4" pot purchased now should be potted into a two gallon sized or larger pot for this year. After it is done blooming in late autumn, take out the plant and it should be divided into a minimum of 4-8 new little plants.

Either pot each one up into more pots or plant in your garden.

And lastly, why should you think about hardy Mums now?

Because I only sell them in small pots in the early spring and that is the best time to plant them in the garden or into a larger pot for your porch