Heirloom Mum Sourcing
Hello!
Some members have requested a post about heirloom mum sourcing. I love mums. And I love how there are so many of them that have been saved here in the US by collectors, in spite of the fall of the flower industry to trade agreements that favored imports.
Mums are a mainstay of our fall cut flower production and they often fill our market bouquets alone, with no additional greenery or other flowers. They come in a wide range of sizes and forms, and its easy to build arrangements and bouquets that show a variety of color, texture, and shape using mums alone.
Just a few years ago, a mainstay for collectors and growers was King’s Mums. They are still a great resource for a wide range of collectible mums. They’re sales usually open close to the new year.
‘Bronze Fleece’
You can also source heirloom mum cuttings from these providers, and I’m sure there are more coming soon. I view mums as the next “fad” flower after dahlias and I cant wait until grower start crossing them and breeding their own new varieties!
For small plants, we’ve purchased varieties from Bluestone Perennials. You can sort by plant height on their website and choose varieties that are suitable for cut flower work over shorter landscape varieties.
Of the heirloom mums we’ve grown here are some of our favorites:
Bronze Fleece - copper anemone style.
Fall Charm - large dark pink dis bud flower.
Grandchild - early lavender spray form.
Homecoming - large peach, pink, terra cotta color
Kelvin Tattoo - striking color contrast cushion form
Purple Light - new to us this year and our all time favorite so far!
Whippoorwill - the perfect soft terra cotta color
If you find yourself getting pulled in by the charm and wonder of these plants, I can’t blame you! To deep dive into full on mum nerd-ery, consider joining the National Chyrsanthemum Society or taking advantage of the many resources available in their online shop.
A word of caution:
Rooted cuttings for mums bred by Syngenta have become available to US growers over the last few years. I want to encourage you to stay away from them for a few reasons.
These plants are bred by a foreign-owned “big farm” superpower company that owns an increasingly large potion of the global agriculture industry. The more products we buy from Syngenta, the more powerful it grows. To date, Syngenta has participated in the harrassment of its own scientists who whistle blow concerns about the adverse affects of Syngenta pesticides on humans and animals. Syngenta pesticides are banned in many countries, but not here in the US, where they have been linked to illnesses like Parkinson’s disease.
Syngenta is establishing a monopoly over the full industry: including plant varietal breeding, fertilizers, pesticides, plant starts, production facilities, post harvest chemicals (all the Chrysal products). ALL OVER THE WORLD. They have been forced by some US states to return land they’ve been buying up, making it inaccessible to smaller US farmers. They’ve been accused of purchasing transportation sites like ocean ports, too. This company controls the seeds that are used to produce our food, the products that are used to grow it, the farms it is grown on, and soon- the transportation of that food. It is a scary amount of power.
Unlike heirloom mums, Syngenta plants are patent protected. You are not allowed to keep the plants and re-grow them a second season or propagate and sell them.