Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania grows the largest thousand bloom ‘mum’ of its kind outside of Asia. It has more than 1,500 flowers blooming this year on one plant alone! Two mums are grown from vegetative cuttings to ensure the 1000 bloom mum target is reached. From a single stem it takes 17 months and more than 1,500 staff hours to nurture and train this plant into a perfect blooming dome. Out of the hundreds of Chrysanthemum cultivars only a few are suitable for this size of mum. Longwood use the variety Chrysanthemum xmorifolium ‘Susono-no-Tsuk’. Each month the plants are re-potted, pinched, tied and framed as required. Towards the last month before the mum goes on display in the conservatory final flower placement and selection is carried out and a custom-designed frame built to fit. Longwood’s Chrysanthemum Festival showcases more than 16,000 beautiful Chrysanthemums which is the largest display in the USA.
