Tiny plants, massive blooms!!!

Every year, I take great pride in preserving my Chrysanthemum plants and propagating fresh saplings from them for the new season. If you remember my last year's post, my garden was filled with a beautiful variety of them. This year, my plan was exactly the same, but unfortunately, nature had some other plans. While I was away on a trip to Kerala to drop off my son, a spell of severe weather hit our place. Seizing the opportunity, garden pests took over. By the time I returned, almost all my preserved stock had perished. Only a single variety survived. I managed to propagate several saplings from that lone survivor, but because I didn't want a garden filled with just one single color, I decided to donate most of them to our apartment society's garden.

With an empty garden and a craving for color, I walked into my favorite local nursery to find some new additions for this winter. That is when I saw something that completely stunned me: Dwarf Chrysanthemums. They are tiny, incredibly compact, and absolutely beautiful. They completely stole my heart right then and there.

What interested me most was that these little gems had already started blooming at the nursery. To have blooms ready by now, the nursery's trained staff must have started preparing and cultivating them at least two months ago, back in July. They are completely devoted to their craft, and they clearly did a phenomenal job.

Regrettably, because these miniature beauties are so attractive, other gardeners had already snapped most of them up. There weren't many dwarf saplings left. I decided to compromise: I picked up just a couple of the remaining dwarf varieties and chose a few of the standard, bigger varieties to fill out the rest of my collection.

The nursery offered saplings in two forms: bare rooted stem cuttings and well-established saplings in small poly bags. Since the season is already moving along and I felt a bit late to the game, I opted for the poly bags. These saplings are further along in their growth cycle and have a much better chance of catching up with the season to deliver a spectacular bloom by January. We will see how it evolves!

To ensure they arrived home undamaged, these delicate saplings were given a VIP ride - cushioned safely on the back seat of my car.

I wasn't alone on this green mission; our apartment society gardener came along with me. He picked up four dwarf and four normal saplings for the community spaces. I always give him one crucial piece of advice: always have your pots prepped and soil ready before you even step into a nursery. That advice paid off beautifully today.

By the afternoon, I had comfortably transplanted all my new green companions into their new homes. Now they are safely settled on my garden, where they will be loved and cared for just like children. I can't wait to watch this winter chapter unfold.

Shot with Samsung S25 Ultra

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