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Slightly taller, about eighteen to twenty-four inches, the
"Cushion Pompoms" also bloom well in September, and the
interesting "Spoon" varieties have a distinctive flower petal
and fine range of color. Taller still, up to two and a half feet,
are the popular Korean hybrids introduced in 1934. These
are mostly singles of good color, but they need to be used in
fairly large groups to be effective in the border. Later blooming
(October and early November), chrysanthemums have an ex
tremely wide range of color. Each year sees additions to the
lists, and as they are all effective in the fall garden, your
choice should be made as to color, height, hardiness, and
period of bloom.
We advocate the growing of the taller chrysanthemums in
a reserve or cutting garden, and lifting them in full bud and
placing them in the border, where they will continue on with
little or no check. This assures better plants and much more
luxuriant bloom. We have found that when they have to com
pete with more robust neighbors, thin, tall plants result, and
infestations of rusts are more prevalent. In the spring, as
soon as growth has started, new divisions or cuttings are made
and the new cycle begins in the reserve or cutting garden.
Here the young plants can be pinched back to develop well
branched plants and the necessary feeding and coddling
given. Such a practice leaves more room in the border for
biennials and annuals. When these have finished in the early
fall, they can be discarded and the spaces filled with the well
grown chrysanthemums. So the whole garden can be made
gay again and given a new lease on life. (The more tender
or choice varieties we winter over in the coldframe, lifting
the plants after they have finished bloom.) (Plate 45.)
To accommodate good succession of bloom in the wide
border we have suggested that space be left in the back strip
for the tall heleniums and the robust hardy asters. In our
own garden we have quantities of asters which we stake and
somewhat restrain while the foreground plants have their day.
Later when most of these have finished blooming and have
been cut back, the tall asters are released to spray forward
over the border, creating a spectacular cloud of blue, mauve,
and white flowers. With the chrysanthemums in the foreground
they put on a show that is quite delightful. These asters, like
many rank-growing perennials, need frequent division and
resetting to keep them within bounds. Otherwise they spread
out and take over too large a portion of the border.
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