Thursday, October 1, 2009

An Autumn Standard in Itawamba County

Pictured above is a selection of mums at a business in Mantachie. Mums are an autumn standard in Itawamba County and during this time of year many potted mums are sold. When I was a kid, I don't believe you could buy potted mums such as what we have today. I remember mums were planted in the flower beds around the house and each autumn they would spring to life with colorful gold, purple and yellow blooms. It seems the mums now days are overloaded with blooms and the blooms don't last as long as they did when I was a kid.
 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the recall that current day mums do not hold their bloom like their ancestors did. Althouh I took a Master Gardener course from Texas A & M Extension Center over 20 years ago, I do remember that the mum seedlings that we coached into a nice sized plant began to show bloom (just not as profuse as these potted varieties) in mid Sept. and if we didn't get a hard frost, we could expect blooms still showing at Christmas time (of course we had to cover them at night when a heavy frost was expected.) I have begun to look at a pot of mums and just keep on walking! They get more expensive to buy each fall and last a much shorter period with a gardeners care - these dry very warm fall days in North Texas doesn't add to the longevity. bettye

Bob Franks said...

I totally agree Bettye. When I was a kid the "old-time" mums would bloom until Christmas and even later if protected from a hard frost - and the plants were much larger than these potted mums you see today. It seems these potted mums today are just a "quick show" - compact and full of blooms that simply don't last. They are pretty while they last - they just don't last long.