LADYBUG SAYS ... CHRYSANTHEMUM IS FALL GARDEN SURPRISE

The garden chrysanthemum is the surprise of the late summer, the accent of fall gardening. Their fall colors are like a "thank you" to gardeners for having once again weathered another summer of hot, humid weather, wilted foliage and reluctant blooms on spent annuals.

The history of this outstanding flower is so interesting, we have decided to share some of the findings. This information is from news releases from Cypress Gardens and Winter Haven, Florida; Yoder Mums of Barberton, Ohio, and Southern Living.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Chinese, who believed chrysanthemums to have the final power of life, made the plants part of their everyday life. Boiled roots relieved headaches, sprouts and petals made salads and brewed leaves became drinks for gala celebrations. The city of Chu-Hsien (Chrysanthemum City) was named after the plant.

Discovered in Japan around the eighth century A.D., the plant was adopted wholeheartedly by the Japanese. The chrysanthemum became the crest and official seal of the Emperor, and prominent families today still use some type of mum on their seals.

A Japanese legend tells of a boat filled with 12 maidens and 12 young men who left China seeking the herb of youth to sustain the life of the revered emperor. The voyagers carried a bamboo basket filled with golden chrysanthemums, China's most important product, to trade for the life enhancing herb.

A terrible storm upset their travel plans, tossing them onto one of the islands in the Japanese archipelago. Finding the island uninhabited, the seekers settled down to build an empire. They planted the chrysanthemum, so the legend goes, which may account for the first Japanese garden and the skill and devotion of the Japanese gardeners.

In 910 A.D., at the first Imperial Chrysanthemum Show, the Emperor named the chry-santhemum the national flower of Japan.

In 1753, the Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, illustrated and named a small, yellow, daisy-like flower, "chrysos," meaning gold, and "anthemon," meaning flower. It was 45 years later that a U.S. scientist imported dark purple," the first chrysanthemum to arrive in America.

World War II democratized the chrysanthemum for the Japanese. Now everyone may grow it and does. A lasting reminder to the noble heredity of the mum can be found in the Japanese flag. What many Westerners think is the rising sun is really a 16-petaled mum, the emblem of the mikado.

In 1876 the Emperor created the Order of the Chrysanthemum, the highest order he could bestow.

Europeans were hesitant to embrace this blooming daisy from the Orient. The intrepid Dutch explorers probably brought the first mums to Europe. Records indicate that half a dozen varieties were grown in Holland in the eighteenth century. Most Europeans, except for the French Hugenots, took little interest in the exotic flower. However, the agricultural minded Huguenots imported a variety of forms and developed Old Purple, one of the basic mums of European gardens. Remember when grandmother's garden was dominated by purple mums?

If the gardeners on the continent were slow to appreciate chry-santhemums, the English were slower, which seems contradictory to the ancient interest in Oriental art, ceramics and tea. In 1764, Phillip Miller of Chelsea Gardens logged the arrival of the Chinese Chrysanthemum and its subsequent death. Old Purple, the French Hugenots' variety arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1793, with scarcely an "oh or ah."

In America, the Old Purple mum was imported by John Stevens, a nursery man from Hoboken, N.J., in 1798. By 1850 the Chusan daisy was well established here.

In 1902 the Chrysanthemum Society of America was founded and held its first exhibit in Chicago. At that time, few varieties available in the States could survive the cold winters and hot summers.

Three Americans, Elmer Smith in Michigan and Alex and Rod Cummings of Connecticut, transformed the mums into the basis of the garden flower we have today. Smith developed 400 varieties.

Yoder brothers of Barberton, Ohio, largest provider of mum cuttings, has earned a significant place in the history of chrysanthemums production. In the 1940's verticullium wilt and the mum stun virus were ravaging the American nurserymen's mum beds. It was this company's scientists and researchers who got this devastating plague under control.

Had it not been for their testing and nurturing for a period of about 20 years, the carpet of beauty laid across this country each September and October might have been rolled up forever.

If you are planning to take a trip this fall there are many popular gardens that feature major chrysanthemum displays this month. These include the Japanese Garden at Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Bellingrath Gardens, Theodore, AL, (near Mobile); Cypress Gardens, Winter Haven, FL; Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA; Biltmore House and Gardens, Asheville, N.C.; and Magnolia Gardens, Charleston, S.C.