Chrysanthemum Oury

Chrysanthemum Oury is a garden chrysanthemum with a small yellow centre and large dark red, magenta, intense, warm flowers that develop in September and October on a rather low plant. Its multiple flowers beautifully animate flower beds and terraces at the end of the season. This perennial quickly forms a wide clump which is very flowery for several weeks until the first frosts. Hardy, long-lived and easy to grow in any good garden soil, this plant, also called autumn daisy, is perfect for bringing warmth to the garden until winter. Planted in front of a shrub bed, it will echo the flamboyant colours of their autumn foliage.

Garden Chrysanthemum is a herbaceous and rhizomatous perennial plant with a woody rootstock, which belongs to the Asteraceae family, it is a cousin of daisies and sunflowers. Oury is a cultivar derived from Chrysanthemum indicum, a plant native to East Asia, cultivated for a long time in China, Japan and Korea, which is the origin of florist chrysanthemums. From spring onwards, it rapidly forms a 50 cm (20in) tall and 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20in) wide bush of leafy, branching stems which are woody at the base. Flowering occurs from September to October, or even November depending on the climate. The plant produces numerous semi-double daisy flowers, 4 cm (2in) in diameter, in small clusters at the top of the leafy stems. The disc is dark red and the wide and rounded ligules on the periphery are a slightly lighter reddish-brown. The leaves are triangular-ovate, roughly divided into 5 lobes and up to 5 cm (2in) long. They are dark green, slightly dull and hairy underneath with toothed edges. The vegetation dries up in winter and regrows in spring. Its rootstock will live for a long time in the garden.

Garden chrysanthemums provide flowers at a time of year when little else does and harmonize remarkably well with autumn colours. They can be planted with asters, in complementary colours. Their flowers are complemented by cosmos, Japanese anemones, gauras, shrub salvias, Magellan fuchsias, and Cape lilies. They are particularly interesting combined with grasses: Carex, Stipa and Pennisetum. Chrysanthemum is a good cut flower, very long-lasting in a vase. Consider using taller varieties to create autumn flower beds at the base of deciduous shrubs to reflect their yellow, red, and orange autumn foliage.