I spend a lot of time out in the garden, by myself, with only the plants and critters, no humans  (sometimes thankfully) and therefore no chatter. Most of the time I am A-OK with this as I pretty much enjoy solitude and find it relaxing to have my mind drifting while my body is working. But, oddly, there are times when I wish there was conversation or company and my busy brain wants more stimulation than worrying about rabbit damage and lack of rainfall. So, I do what any self-respecting adult gardener would do….I play make believe with the plants.

As a child I had a wildly super over active imagination ( double superlative necessary). I was a pro at inventing games, scenarios, and drama with dolls and toys inside and anything Mother Nature could give me outside. I loved to be in the woods and created busy little words where the insects had names and families, and I will elaborate no more lest you think my mother should have committed me,but you get the idea, huh?

Now ,I chit chat with the plants about their health and performance and even create little contests with them like; who will bloom first?  who can continue blooming the longest? and most importantly here; who  is blooming last? To be fair I usually make them only compete with their genus siblings  during the season (first rose, first clematis etc) but the actual first of anything in the Spring and last of anything in the Fall  always get special attention.

First of anything is almost always the siberian squill, even though by rights it should be the early snowdrops. The squill has a location advantage as the snow cover melts there early, which I explain to the snowdrops so they won’t feel insecure.

Last of anything used to be the chrysanthemum x rubellum ‘Copper Penny’, and it held that title until a new addition a few years ago stripped it away. Now last of anything is a chrysanthemum called ‘Will’s Wonderful’

I will pause here to muddy the waters a bit with nomenclature and breeding history , skip this paragraph if that bores you.

Chrysanthemum x rubellum, recently volleying back and forth from the genus  chrysanthemum to the genus dendranthemum,  has a very murkey  origin. Breeding in the 1930’s  using a mum misidentified as chrysanthemum coreanum (Korean) which was actually chrysanthemum  zawadskii v.sibiricum,  led to a group of hybrids referred to as Korean mums.

A different breeder then “discovered” what he thought was a new species and growing in Kew Gardens and named it  rubellum although it was later determined that rubellum was just a vigorous strain of the  chrysanthemum zawadskii already identified and growing in what is now Slovakia. So this plant should have been called to be correct  (deep breath) chrysanthemum zawadskii v sibiricum robustrum. 

Breeding ensued using this mum of many names, so now this ‘group’ of mums  and their progeny are all  called by all sorts of names, none 100% accurate and no one cares. Some call all the mums bred using  rubellum the Rubellum group, some call them the Sheffields ( after the popular Sheffield Mum) and to some they are and always will be the Korean group. Whew.

Whatever you call him, ‘Will’s Wonderful’is just that. I originally bought it because of the name (  my Wil  deserves some tribute out here), but Will the plant has more than earned his place in the garden. The foliage has a blue gray hue and is sharply scented. The plant itself is extremely hardy and does not need pinching  to stay upright like the others in his clan. Blooming begins in October with bright red buds opening to strawberry red petals that fade to whitish pink as you get closer to the sunny yellow center. They are still in full bloom and bud here in mid November after many nights in the 20’s, lots of frost and even snow.

I cut a bunch 2 weeks ago and put them in a vase on my desk, and here they are today, still looking as fresh as the day I brought them in.

The only source I know for them is Lazy S Farms, and that we even have that one is only due to a request from Margaret Roach when her source, Seneca Hills Perennials , ceased to offer them.

Plant Will, grow Will, love Will, he really is wonderful.