The national chrysanthemum show is being held this weekend in Dunedin. Gillian Vine gets a few tips from a father and daughter whose exhibition blooms can be as big as a dinner plate.
Justine Dahlenburg's passion for growing chrysanthemums could well be genetic. Her great-grandmother grew them and inspired Justine's father, Tom, and he in turn got his daughter hooked on the flower whose spicy scent sums up autumn.
Justine, who lives in Mosgiel, and Tom, from Otautau, will be eager to see which of them has the best blooms when they compete against one another and a host of other exhibitors this weekend.
The Taieri Chrysanthemum Club, of which Justine is the president, is hosting the national chrysanthemum show, being run in conjunction with the Dunedin Horticultural Society's autumn show.
Justine is very grateful to the DHS.
"It wouldn't be feasible to run it on our own, but because chrysanthemums are the autumn flowers, it works well," she says.
She has been showing for "seven or eight years" and her father considers her a late starter, as he started 52 years ago, when he was just 8 years old.
He recalls seeing one he liked among those his grandmother grew in biscuit tins and after his first attempts were frosted, he tried again the following season, won with it and has not looked back, although these days he grows a mere 400 plants, well down from his peak production several years ago.
People entering late dahlias and other flowers may appreciate April's warm weather, but Tom says it has worked against his late-flowering chrysanthemums. They need warm days and cool (but not frosty) nights to form the tight balls of petals that meet the show standard and Tom fears his will be too loose to show well.
Justine has kept her plants cool in a shade-house by running a fan over them. She has grown 50 or 60 with the show in mind but, casting a critical eye over them last weekend thought most were two or three weeks too late to do well.
For those serious about showing, work begins in August or September when cuttings are taken. Young shoots about 10cm long are taken from plants - "Not rooted pieces", Justine says - and put into pots of well-composted soil.
Roots form after about a month and the small plants are then repotted. Each plant is allowed just one flower stem and unless a spray is being grown, only one bud is left to develop.
For the larger varieties, whose blooms can be 30cm or more in diameter, it takes eight weeks from the time the buds begin to colour until the flower is fully out.
Justine admits home gardeners may not want to go to those lengths, but they can get a great deal of pleasure from growing chrysanthemums, which flower when there is not much left in the garden.
Apart from the colour range - white, yellow, pink, maroon, bronze and even green - they are long-lasting as cut flowers, one of the reasons florists love them.
In the garden, do not put chrysanthemums with lime-hating plants such as rhododendrons or lilies. Instead, group them with dahlias, gladioli, carnations or stock, all of which like lime in their diet.
The other thing to watch is that plants are not allowed to dry out.
To get the longest life from cut chrysanthemums, Tom advises putting them in brass vases.
He does not know the scientific reason for it, but says they will last up to two months in one.
Even in other types of containers, chrysanthemums will last for about one month.
• SEE THEM
The National Chrysanthemum Show, held in conjunction with the Dunedin Horticultural Society's autumn show, is being staged at Forbury Park Raceway, Victoria Rd, Dunedin, tomorrow and on Sunday.
