Chrysanthemum indicum Mei Kyo

The Chrysanthemum 'Mei Kyo' is a very old Japanese variety of garden chrysanthemum that combines many qualities. It is a compact, ball-shaped plant, very floriferous, which produces a multitude of small pompoms in late season, in a delightful range of pink tones. It does not require staking, withstands European winters perfectly, and is content with rainwater in summer, even if it is scarce. An excellent choice for creating romantic flowerbeds or pots, very decorative from late summer to autumn, at a time of year when flowering becomes rarer. 

Chrysanthemum x indicum is an herbaceous and rhizomatous perennial plant with a woody base, from the Asteraceae family. It is a hybrid obtained by cross-breeding different species originating from East Asia. This excellent cultivar 'Mei Kyo' is the first hybrid to be cultivated in Europe two centuries ago. The plant eventually forms a dense and rounded bush, 50-60 cm (20-24in) tall and wide, composed of solid, branching and leafy stems, woody at the base. Its growth is quite fast. Flowering occurs from September to late October-early November. This lovely chrysanthemum produces numerous small flowers organised in capitula, very double, reaching 2-3 cm (1in) in diameter, grouped in small bouquets at the top of the leafy stems. The disc is a bright dark yellow while the ligules on the periphery, thin and very numerous, change colour as they open. When they bloom, the pompoms are a dark purplish pink, then they gradually change through different shades of pink until they become pale silver pink. The overall effect creates an irresistible plant-sized bouquet of varying pink shades. The leaves are small, resembling miniature oak leaves. Triangular to ovate in shape, they have several lobes. Toothed along the edges, their colour is a somewhat dull dark green and they are hairy underneath. The aerial vegetation, deciduous, dries up in winter and regrows in spring. Its perennial stump will live a long time in the garden. 

Garden chrysanthemums offer immense worth at a somewhat nostalgic time of year and their colours blend remarkably well with those of autumn. They can be combined with asters, of course, by choosing complementary or matching colours. Their blooming coincides with that of shrub salvias, catmints, and other gauras. These perennials blend particularly well with grasses such as feather grasses, small miscanthus, Muhlenbergia capillaris, and foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum). They can be easily grown in pots to decorate balconies and terraces and provide excellent cut flowers.