LADYBUG SAYS... CHRYSANTHEMUMS KICK OFF FALL SHOW

One is certain that it is autumn when the chrysanthemums begin their spectacular show. Mums are the flower most home gardeners depend upon to add that splash of color that is so welcome after the trials of the summer garden. This year has been one of great disappointments.

Few garden flowers are as versatile as chrysanthemums. These hardy perennials adapt to most garden sites and are available in many sizes and colors to meet the gardener's needs.

There are no special requirements for the garden varieties, just good garden soil, plenty of water, sunshine, nutrients to feed them, and sometimes an occasional spraying with an insecticide for the control of troublesome insects. Generally, though, they are fairly disease free.

One of their greatest pluses is the fact that they may be moved when in bloom to the place in the garden needing a color boost, or placed in containers. When field grown are properly dug and replanted, they often have no adjustment to their new homes.

Hardy mums are divided into an assortment of classes. Each class represents a different set of growth and flower characteristics.

Cushion mums fit in to every garden. Only 12 to 18 inches tall, these prolific bloomers are ideal edging plants, and also make showy beds by themselves. Most varieties are winter hardy and begin to bloom early to mid-September.

The exotic quill mums are a flower garden standout. These two-foot tall beauties are so named because the edges of each petal curve downward, creating a quill-like appearance. Mature flowers may measure three to five inches in diameter.

Lovely pompons are also two feet in height, but they bloom on slender stems and produce ball-like flowers. Poms usually bloom from mid to late September and make excellent cut flowers.

Button mums, like their cousins the pompons, also produce ball-like flowers jam-packed with brightly colored petals. Flowers measure only an inch in diameter, but blooms smother every plant from mid-September until frost. Mature plants grow to about two feet tall.

Spoon mums are the exotic ones that are both beautiful and unusual. These eye catchers grow 18 to 24 inches in height and bloom from late September until mid-October. Like quill chrysanthemums, spoon mums are not as hardy with us as some of the others.

The elegant decorative chrysanthemums are famous for their large double flowers that may grow to four inches in diameter. Taller and less compact than the cushion types, some decorative mums need to be staked. Plants usually start to bloom in late September.

Most of these types come in their wonderful colors. There are yellows, reds, bronzes, oranges, pinks, purples and whites.

Most of the magnificent chrysanthemums we see are the product of Yoder Brothers of Barberton, Ohio, whose company has been producing chrysanthemums for the past 30 years. Yoder is the world's largest provider of chrysanthemum cuttings. Any place where you see the Prophets series on the tags stuck into the container, you can be assured you will like the rich, vibrant flower colors and the growth habits of that mum, which will bloom from four to six weeks.

Prophet series are not the only series of Yoder, but "Prophets are our best garden mums" says Ed Higgins, garden mum manager. To become a Prophet, each variety undergoes approximately five years of tough field trials in California, New Jersey, Fort Meyers, Florida and Leamington, Canada, a geographical composite of climates of North America.

Prophets grow lower, sturdier, have more flowers, offer more unusual colors and display better flower forms than other garden mums, and are generally perennial depending on the severity of the winter.

Like roses, winter survival is not guaranteed. Greater variations in winter conditions, the more susceptible the mum is to winter kill. Severe freezing and thawing as we have here is more likely to kill a garden mum than in areas where the ground is continually frozen. Mulch may help.

In late fall, after the mums have finished blooming, cut the stems down to four or five inches above the soil. Once the soil freezes apply hay or an evergreen mulch. When spring arrives gradually remove the mulch from around the plants. After the second year of bloom, it is wise to divide garden mum clumps.

Yoder introduces new Prophets series mums each year. Last year was the year of the Girls. All of them bore girl's names, Jessica, Nicole, Naomi, Sarah, Donna, Grace and Sandy.

New Prophets by Yoder for 1991 are Cream Frolic, Yellow Illusion, Dark Triumph, Anna, Yellow Triumph, Shelley, Holly and Emily. All are lovely, but Yellow Illusion, a large, visually stimulating quilled daisy, is my very favorite.

More about mums next week as their history is most interesting.