Chrysanthemum ‘Miss Gloria's Thanksgiving Mum’ (aka 'Thanksgiving Day') – is an extremely late-blooming rich, dark pink-purple mum selection unfolding from deep red-purple buds. Each single daisy-like flower encompasses a warm bright yellow nickel-sized button center. Flowers measure at least 3 inches and as much as 3.75 inches diameter. This plant came our way through Jon Lehrer from the sadly now defunct Seneca Hill Perennials. Ellen Hornig suspects that it has had a former moniker presently lost in the annals of time. This hand-me-down was rediscovered in South Carolina and named for the Jenks Farmer's mom, Gloria. Until I hear otherwise we're sticking to this heart-warming name resplendent with home-grown easy southern graciousness. In that 'Miss Gloria's Thanksgiving Mum' is a very tall grower we recommend late spring/early summer shearing for a stockier plant otherwise it will have to be supported by garden neighbors or staked for best performance. But then Jenks Farmer also made this suggestion, "given the size, it's also good to train up 5' tall free standing pots and let it cascade down..." Then again why not trimmed and trained as a hanging basket? There are clearly many possibilities for this beauty! Spring planting recommended. All of our cultivars are propagated by cuttings and are pot-grown.

We strongly recommend spring planting in colder regions so that the plants will be well-established by the time cold weather arrives. Cut them back to a lower leaf axil by mid-July in the north, earlier farther south; doing so will result in better-branched plants on a more compact habit adorned with even more flowers at season’s end. But if you don’t, regardless, you’ll have multitudes of flowers on longer stems but possibly more decumbent plants. All of our mums will gradually ground cover into larger and larger mats. Plant all mums in full to part sun in fertile draining soil. Honeybees love them as this is one of the last flowering perennials to bloom in such abundance in the autumn in New England, along with some of the later asters.