Chrysanthemum flowers bloom in various forms, and can be daisy-like, decorative, pompons or buttons. Chrysanthemum blooms come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes and in a wide range of colors. In addition to the traditional yellow, other popular colors are white, purple, and red.

The Chrysanthemum flower symbolizes fidelity, optimism, joy and long life.

Pinching chrysanthemums yields compact, bushy plants with more blooms. "Pinching" simply means removing the tips of new growth, thereby stimulating the chrysanthemums to send out side-shoots. Start in the spring when the new growth has reached 4-6" in length. Thereafter, every 2-3 weeks, pinch the center out of any more growth when it reaches 6".  But stop pinching chrysanthemums around the middle of July, or else bud formation won't occur soon enough to ensure flowering. 

Propagation: Take softwood cuttings or root leaves in early summer. Start seed of hardy species in fall. Divide in spring.

Problems: Fairly trouble free, but watch for mealybugs, scale insects, slugs, and snails, as well as bigger critters, including deer.

Full sun locations allow cockscomb to grow taller. But cockscomb may grow in only partial sun, so it can happily exist when partially shaded by taller plants.  Pinching back the first bloom on these flowers can cause branching and a more abundant display of flowers on each cockscomb plant.

Plant seedlings into rich, well draining soil that has warmed in late spring. In my garden cockscomb reseeds itself.  It surprises me by coming up in different locations each year.  Since cockscomb looks good in the fall when many other plants have lost their luster, I encourage it to spread.  I leave the dead flowers untill they have had time to go to seed.  To spread the joy, I shake the seed heads over other flowerbeds.

During the growing season green chlorophyll in tree leaves is broken down by sunlight and constantly replenished. As day length decreases the abscission cells, a special layer at the leaf-stem junction, divide rapidly and slowly block transport of materials. As abscission begins, a chlorophyll production wanes and eventually stops.

As the green chlorophyll breaks down without replacement we begin to see the underlying orange carotenoids and yellow xanthophylls. These pigments help capture light energy during the growing season. But unlike yellow and orange pigments, red anthocyanins are made during fall leaf senescence. It is manufactured from sugars found in the leaf. They produce greater amounts during cooler nights and sunny days. When a hard freeze comes along, production ends.

Why would a tree use energy to make a pigment in a leaf that is about to die and fall off? William Hoch, a biologist at Montana State University, found that if he genetically blocked anthocyanin production, the leaves were much more vulnerable to fall sunlight damage, and so sent less nutrients to the plant roots for winter storage before the leaf fell. The tree was not able to recuperate as much energy back from the leaves it grew earlier in the year.

Bright red leaves under a clear blue sky are spectacular to see. But what is beauty to us, is simply survival to a tree."