ANOTHER MUM IS TRYING TO WOO ME. This time it’s someone a lot less brash than my longtime one-and-only, but despite the quieter demeanor, it’s starting to grow on me. What do you think of ladylike ‘Sheffield Pink’ (or just plain ‘Sheffield,’ as it’s also called)?
‘Sheffield Pink’ has 3-inch-wide, pastel-pink blooms in October here, lasting a month or longer, and though the catalogs all describe them as “apricot-pink,” I don’t see any hint of orange in its blush. The plant will grow from about 2½ to 3 feet, and as with any garden mum will perform best if divided regularly and flower most prolifically if pinched once or twice. The routine:
When the first signs of growth appear in spring (May for me), dig the old plants and toss the oldest, woody bits, replanting vigorous divisions 18 inches apart. Note: There will be far more than you can use, especially if you haven’t divided in awhile.
Once the transplanted divisions settle in and get to about 6 inches high, around June here, pinch off (with fingers or a pruning shears) about ½ inch of topgrowth from the terminal point, repeating after another 6 inches or so of new growth is produced. This will encourage bushier plants. If you like a looser mum, pinch just once, and in either case don’t pinch after about mid-July (the approximate time here when buds set in earnest).
I know, I know; ‘Sheffield Pink’ isn’t ‘Will’s Wonderful,’ but for now it has this other detail to recommend it: ‘Sheffield Pink’ is available, while ‘Will’ is looking for a new mail-order home. Find ‘Sheffield Pink’ at Bluestone or Lazy S’s; stay tuned about where to find ‘Will’ perhaps in the coming spring.
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I WAS SO BLESSED TO visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as garden editor and then as editorial director. The places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home. Take a tour of 
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Very ladylike, isn’t she? I like the “daisy” style mums best — not so much fru-fru stuff going on. Still, I hope Will finds a new home. He’s quite bold!
Hey! I recognize that Mum! That’s the same mum the Christopher over at Outside Clyde originally dissed as being an “odd” color but learned to love this fall.
Hi Margaret – Your post is perfectly-timed, the first blooms on my Will’s Wonderful started opening yesterday! I purchased them last spring based on your advice, and have them paired with some amsonia for a lovely fall combo. They are planted near my koi pond which I am visiting regularly to scoop out the falling leaves, so in a good spot for fall viewing. Unfortunately this morning we had a small mishap – while scooping the leaves and admiring my Will’s Wonderful and feeling very proud of myself – sunglasses fell off my head into the pond. They don’t seem to float. Oh well.
In my zone 10b climate here in southern California I get 3, sometimes 4, blooms a year out my chrysanthemums -which have been chugging along now in my perennial border for 8 years (repeatedly making me happy throughout the year). Because I garden organically I can even put the blossoms into salads, as they are edible. After each bloom, I whack them back and forget about them until -Voila’, there they are blooming again. Nifty.
Hi Margaret–
I stumbled onto your blog about two weeks ago and since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed “catching up” on your posts and gorgeous photos. I’ve been inspired and comforted by the love of plants and nurturing one’s home environment here at A Way to Garden!
Although I am moving from my first house and garden (this week!), I have been psyched to see my first two mums blooming away for the past month.
I have never particularly been a fan of the dense ball of homogeneity (ouch!) that seems to be most garden mums. However, when I stumbled onto this pale pink-apricot Korean mum: http://www.nichegardens.com/catalog/item.php?id=1216 (at Niche Gardens). I was smitten!
It appears that this mum might be the same as your ‘Sheffield Pink’ cultivar. What do you think?
The second mum I have loved is another one I purchased from Niche, which is a true (noticeable) apricot color and is more tightly branched: http://www.nichegardens.com/catalog/item.php?id=2293.
Thanks for sharing your observations and love of gardening!
Welcome, Joseph. I didn’t see that post but will go look, thanks. I am getting to like it more, too. :) Nice of you to point it out; don’t be a stranger.
Welcome, Clare. I haven’t been to Niche Gardens in so many years; I must reconnect with them. Great reminders. The pink one looks very similar (maybe the petals are a little thicker than mine) if not the same; the apricot is lovely. Hope to see you soon again here, and thanks again.
I love this mum; I’ve had it for several years. In its first location it spread a bit too enthusiastically, but now it has room to roam among ornamental grasses. I really just leave it be and enjoy those lovely flowers.
Hi Margaret, I to have my own secret love affair with mum’s.
I know many gardeners and plantsmen cringe at the thought of having mums in their gardens, but I love their cheery blooms at this time of year.
Even better is the aster “Jindai”. I planted drifts of them this past spring, and now their late fall blooms are just melting me.
Oh Sheffield, another heartbreaker here in my Wisconsin garden. Blooms to late for our shortened season. Enjoy, enjoy.
Lovely and subtle. Looks like a good match for the winey-rust colors we’ve been getting this Fall. Last year was so much brighter – each year a different mood and a different mum.
In my garden in central NY where the soil is on the alkaline side of things, this mum blooms late but is apricot pink (fading to a paler pink) and absolutely gorgeous against the dark leaves of oak leaf hydangeas, etc.
Welcome, Lindajean. Sounds like a great combination…someone here may be relocating next to someone else, thanks to you. :) See you soon again.
I like the pink. It is unusual in just the right way. It also looks like a nice daisy, and will stand out amongst the fall folliage here in ny.
I too have this mum and love it. But, crazy question mayhaps: It seeded itself in throughout the bed, which I happily (or lazily) allowed, and the blooms of the volunteers are different shades. One is a delightful purpley pink, another is quite yellow, and still another is red-orangey yellow. Is that normal? I love it, but no one ever mentioned it would do that. Quite a pleasant surprise.
I don’t think I have another pink in my garden (N. Indiana), but I love the drifts of Sheffield Pink against the yellows and browns of grasses in my late fall, punctuated by reds and yellows of falling leaves. And the flowers last forever in a vase–I’ve had a bunch in a mug by my computer all week! Not to say I wouldn’t love a chance to get hold of Will’s Wonderful in the spring…
Love your site, Margaret
@Mary Ellen: I don’t know the background of this specific variety genetically, but many plants don’t come true from seed (hybrids in particular) or have a variable range of color and therefore have to be propagated vegetatively for consistent results (or grown from seed and then the seedlings selected among when they start to bloom the first time). Mums are generally grown from divisions or cuttings.
Welcome, LLu. I am determined to figure out how to share ‘Will’ in the spring if it isn’t in the trade again by then, so stay tuned… I am also impressed with how long-lasting ‘Sheffield Pink’ is as a cut flower. Wow. Nice to see you here, and hope to again soon.
‘Sheffield Pink’ looks similar to ‘Clara Curtis’, a flower I look forward to every fall.
Welcome, Anne. Yes, I think they look somewhat similar but supposedly ‘Sheffield’ is taller than ‘Clara,’ like 2 or 2 1/2 feet instead of just over a foot. Probably ‘Clara’ would be better stature in many situations; great reminder, thank you. See you soon!
There are wine snobs, and food snobs, BUT, I am a MUM SNOB! As nice as Sheffield Pink looks, I think the only MUM worth buying is of the “SILK VARIETY”. That’s right, I like silk ones over the real thing, when it comes to fall flowers. My next door neighbors, and I both have urns with mums in them, on our stacked stone retaining walls. Their’s are the REAL thing, where mine are FAKE. When they got their mums they were tight budded, and looked nice for a few weeks, now they looking tired. My silk mums, and silk fall leaves, COMPLIMENTS of Wal Mart, and the BUCK store are looking Bright, and FRESH as a daisy, and will look that way until I replace them with evergreen boughs. Mums on the whole are just TOO common, and are OVERLY USED. If I am planting something for fall interest, it is the Flowering Kale. The Kale looks good for a long time, I have had them up to Christmas in past years.
I love how sweet and demure that is compared to some. Ladylike is a perfect description, Kim
Sheffield is a beaut– and Will is far from bashful, but I think my favorite “mum” currently is ‘Gethesamane Moonlight’– single daisies bathed in the most luscious pale yellow that seems to glow from some inner light. it is just gorgeous … and just starting to bloom for me in Washington. lovely next to the royal blue of Salvia guaranitica and Helianthus salicifolius ‘Mellow Yellow’….throw in Oxydendron arboreum’s brilliant red foliage and ….well, it doesn’t get much better!
Welcome, Janet, with tales of so many beautiful plants; a pretty picture you paint indeed. I am going off now to look up ‘Gethsamane Moonlight,’ and I will blame you if another mum is in my future. :) See you soon, I hope.
I grow 2 hardy mum’s 1- Venus and 2- Mei Kyo. Both are hardy in my zone 5b garden (Pittsburgh PA). Venus is so pretty, and the last flower to bloom in my garden. It’s been flowering all of October and will continue until we get a really hard frost. Mei Kyo is “dwarf” compared to most mums. I’ve given divisions to many friends, and from a little 2 inch plug (from Andre Viette nursery- a “freebie” thrown in with my plant order years ago) it makes a great ground cover for sunny and somewhat dry area. Here’s a great link to a Fine Gardening article on hardy mums. http://www.finegardening.com/plants/articles/not-your-average-mums.aspx
I have both Sheffield and Clara Curtis in my garden here in CT. The Sheffield is always the last of the mums to bloom, and it starts a beautiful apricot here fading to almost white. I actually prefer it to Clara, as for me it is less invasive (Clara spreads like wildfire and if not pinched consistantly, blooms in July for me), and the foliage is probably the best I have seen for mums. With all the vibrant colors of the fall season, I would not be without Sheffield’s softer side!
Welcome, Joshua. I am glad for the comparison of the two from your first-hand account, thank you; I love how you describe “Sheffield’s softer side,” too. Hope to see you again here soon; don’t be a stranger.