Well. I visited Allan Gardens Conservatory in downtown Toronto yesterday – I wanted to take in their annual Chrysanthemum show. Let me say right up front – the Allan Gardens mums are NOT the $7 mums I bought at the grocery store in September. Nope. No way. Not by a long shot. I had an old point and shoot camera with me so these pictures do not do justice to the amazing blossoms, and the amazing work done by the City of Toronto horticulturalists. But I hope they’ll give you a general idea of what’s now on view – for free – until November 11, in case you happen to be in Toronto. Now….just need to source some seeds….
County Gardening 
Who knew that mums could be so varied and beautiful? ❤️
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I sure didn’t!
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😊
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I love mum shows…our local one comes up in November and features lots of one-of-a-kind hybrids created by students, which we get to vote on. My favorites are the spider mums.
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Hybrids, ie from cross pollination and grown from seed? Fascinating!
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Yes, botany students at Smith create them. I think the winner may get to name and catalog it.
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Do you mean that they were grown from seed that were direct products of the hybrid? That is, of course, how hybrids are bred. However, such a hybrid should not be true to type if grown secondarily from seed. Actually, such hybrids should be sterile.
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Yes, they do their own crosses and grow them from seed, as part of their learning curriculum. As you can imagine, there are a fair amount of washed out colors, but some are quite striking.
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That makes more sense. I read it as seed from the hybrids, rather than seed that grows into the hybrids.
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