The Plants We Forgot to GrowBlooming Bee Gardening | Heritage Plant Series

The Plants We Forgot to Grow: Hardy Chrysanthemums

The forgotten jewels of the autumn garden

Every autumn, garden centres fill with colourful pots of chrysanthemums. We place them on our front steps, tuck them into seasonal planters, and enjoy their beautiful blooms until winter arrives. Then, more often than not, we throw them away.

But chrysanthemums weren't always treated as disposable decorations.

Once upon a time, these flowers were treasured garden perennials, carefully cultivated, divided, shared between neighbours, and passed down through generations.

And some of those hardy chrysanthemums deserve a place in our gardens again.

A Flower With Thousands of Years of History

Chrysanthemums have been cultivated in China for more than 2,000 years, initially valued for their beauty and traditional uses. Over time, they spread throughout East Asia, becoming deeply connected to art, poetry, horticulture, and seasonal celebrations.

In Japan, the chrysanthemum became an important cultural symbol associated with the imperial family and longevity.

By te 17th and 18th centuries, chrysanthemums were reaching European gardens, where plant breeders developed extraordinary varieties with unusual flower forms, colours, and sizes.

Gardeners grew everything from delicate, daisy-like flowers to elaborate blooms with curling, spoon-shaped, or spider-like petals.

Chrysanthemum societies, exhibitions, and specialist growers helped make them one of the most celebrated flowers of their time.

The Chrysanthemums Our Grandparents Knew

There is something special about finding an old gardening book and seeing how much attention was once given to a single group of plants.

My grandad had an old book about chrysanthemums, and it's one of the reasons these flowers feel particularly fitting for this series.

Older gardening books remind us that plants weren't always selected simply because they were available at the garden centre that weekend.

Gardeners learned individual varieties, experimented with propagation, traded cuttings, and worked for years to perfect their plants.

Chrysanthemums were flowers worth knowing by name.

Today, many of us recognize the familiar rounded pots of mums sold each autumn, but the world of chrysanthemums is far larger and more interesting than those seasonal displays suggest.

Aren't Chrysanthemums Annuals?

Not necessarily!

This is where things get interesting.

Many chrysanthemums sold in autumn are florist or seasonal garden mums. Although chrysanthemums are perennial plants botanically, not every variety is hardy enough to survive a prairie winter.

True cold-hardy garden chrysanthemums, however, can return year after year when the right variety is planted in suitable conditions.

Some have been specifically bred for northern climates. The University of Minnesota, for example, has developed chrysanthemums selected for cold hardiness, including plants suited to USDA Zone 3 conditions.

For Calgary gardeners, that distinction matters.

A chrysanthemum labelled simply "garden mum" isn't automatically suitable for our winters. Look for a named, early-flowering variety with documented cold hardiness, ideally Zone 3, and remember that Alberta's chinooks, drying winds, and fluctuating winter temperatures can challenge even hardy perennials.

Growing Hardy Chrysanthemums in Calgary

If you'd like to try growing chrysanthemums as permanent garden plants, a little planning makes a big difference.

Sunlight: Choose a location with at least six hours of direct sunlight. Good light encourages strong growth and abundant flowers.

Soil: Well-drained soil is essential. Chrysanthemums dislike sitting in wet soil, especially during winter.

Planting: Spring is the best time to establish hardy chrysanthemums in Calgary. This gives their roots an entire growing season to develop before winter.

Watering: Keep newly planted chrysanthemums consistently watered while establishing, without allowing the soil to become waterlogged.

Pinching: Pinching growing tips in late spring and early summer encourages branching and a fuller plant. In Calgary, stop by early July, or earlier for varieties that need a longer flowering season.

Winter protection: Leave healthy stems standing through winter. After the ground begins to freeze, apply a loose insulating mulch around the root zone to help moderate temperature fluctuations.

Dividing: Established plants can be divided in spring every few years to maintain vigour and share with fellow gardeners.

One especially important consideration for our short growing season is bloom time. A chrysanthemum that begins flowering in late October might be spectacular somewhere warmer but may never reach its full potential in Calgary.

Early-flowering varieties are usually the better choice.

Why Bring Them Back?

Hardy chrysanthemums offer something that many gardens are missing: abundant flowers at the end of the growing season.

Depending on the variety and weather, they can provide colour from late summer into autumn, complementing ornamental grasses, asters, sedums, and other late-season perennials.

Their flowers can also provide nectar and pollen for insects still active during mild autumn weather, particularly open-centred forms that allow easier access.

They're beautiful as cut flowers, offer a remarkable range of colours, and connect today's gardeners with centuries of horticultural tradition.

But perhaps their greatest appeal is the idea of growing something worth keeping.

Instead of buying a new pot of chrysanthemums every autumn, imagine planting a hardy variety that gradually becomes part of your garden's history.

One you can divide, share, and pass along.

A Forgotten Favourite Worth Rediscovering

Not every old garden plant belongs in every modern landscape. Some require too much attention, some aren't suited to our climate, and others have been replaced for good reasons.

But hardy chrysanthemums are worth another look.

They remind us that gardening can be about more than instant colour. It can also be about patience, experimentation, knowledge, and the plants we carry from one generation to the next.

Perhaps it's time we stopped thinking of every chrysanthemum as a temporary autumn decoration and started rediscovering the hardy varieties that can become permanent members of our gardens.

Because some plants are simply too wonderful to forget.

The Plants We Forgot to Grow is an educational series by Blooming Bee Gardening Inc., exploring overlooked, historic, and unusual plants and their place in modern Alberta gardens.