Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker'

Chrysanthemum 'Mary Stoker': Butter Yellow With an Apricot Blush

Soft yellow daisies that blush apricot and peach as they age, which is honestly the most graceful midlife glow-up we've ever seen. 'Mary Stoker' is a mum with range. COLOUR-CHANGING AND COMING BACK.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Chrysanthemum × rubellum 'Mary Stoker'
• Common Name: Garden Mum
• Height: 60–75 cm (24–30 in)
• Spread: 45–60 cm (18–24 in)
• Flowers: Single, soft yellow daisies with a yellow centre, blushing apricot to peachy pink as they age
• Bloom Time: Late summer to fall (August to October)
• Foliage: Lobed, light to mid-green leaves, lightly aromatic
• Features: Reliably perennial, good for cutting

Where to Plant: Use it at the front or middle of a sunny border, in a cottage garden, or in a pollinator planting that needs late colour. It is lovely in a container on a sunny step and lasts well as a cut flower.

Companion Plants: Pair the soft yellow daisies of 'Mary Stoker' with orange, ruby and pink in a sunny or part-shade bed. Geum TEMPO™ 'Orange' opens orange flowers at 23 to 38 cm from April to June. Hemerocallis 'Ruby Stella' adds ruby red reblooming daylilies at 45 to 55 cm from July to September. Veronica 'Perfectly Picasso' brings pink spikes at 56 to 66 cm in July and August. Calamagrostis 'Overdam' stands behind at 90 to 120 cm with cream-edged blades.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in fertile, well-drained soil. Drainage is the key to winter survival, since hardy mums dislike sitting wet over winter. In too much shade the stems stretch and flop. Pinch or shear the stems back by about a third in late spring and again in early summer, finishing by early July, for a fuller plant with more flowers. Leave the old stems standing through winter to shelter the crown, then cut them down in spring. Divide every two or three years in spring to keep it vigorous.

History: 'Mary Stoker' is an old, well-loved cultivar in the Rubellum group of hardy chrysanthemums, linked to the East Asian species Chrysanthemum zawadskii and long grown as true perennials because they handle cold winters far better than florist mums. It is also listed under the older name Dendranthema 'Mary Stoker'.

Final Thoughts: Reliably perennial, loved by butterflies and bees, and lovely in a vase. Ditch the throwaway grocery mums. UPGRADE YOUR AUTUMN.