Chrysanthemum ‘Mei Kyo’

Chrysanthemum ‘Mei Kyo’ is a compact, highly floriferous perennial that produces vibrant pink double pom-pom flowers all throughout the autumn season.

The leaves are low-growing, green and divided into rounded leaflets, resembling miniature oak leaves.

The flowers are a bright pink, fringed with a darker pink rim and bloom endlessly throughout the fall until the first frosts arrive. The flowers actually shift color palettes as they bloom. The pom-poms begin in a dark purplish-pink hue, graduallyshifting through various shades of pink until they become a pale silvery-pink towards mid-November.

Drought tolerant and hardy, this perennial will bring some color and energy to your garden as the others begin to prepare for winter.

👨‍🌾GARDENING TIPS👨‍🌾: 

🌞 The active ingredient found in flower heads is called pyrethrum, and is a toxic compound that causes paralysis in insects. This is used in insecticides so you can infuse ho water with Chrysanthemum heads, let it cool and then spray your pests away! Alternatively, the flower heads can also be ground into a powder and sprinkled on a garden patch or windowbox that is giving you trouble – the pyrethrum should take care of them for you.

✂️ Cutting back the stems to 20cm from the ground in January promotes a strong reconstitution and multiplication of each Chrysanthemum when spring arrives.

The Tale:

The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek: χρυσός (chrysos) which means gold and ἄνθεμον (anthemon) which means flower.

It is a contentious genus as it used to include many other families within it (most notably Argyranthemum, Glebionis, Leucanthemopsis, Leucanthemum (daisies), Rhodanthemum, and Tanacetum (tansy)) but a ruling in 1999 by the International Botanical Congress separated the families out once and for all.