The chrysanthemum, the “Queen of Flowers,” has been cultivated in China since at least 500 B.C. The first to arrive in the West was a simple, semi-double form called “Old Purple.” It was introduced at Kew Gardens in London in 1790 and was illustrated in Curtis’ 1796 edition of the Botanical Magazine. The William Prince Nursery of Long Island, NY, listed “43 varieties of ‘Chinese’ chrysanthemums,” in its 1820s catalog. By the mid-nineteenth century, at least fifty varieties had been developed from new strains sent from China. Their forms ranged from single, double, quilled, anemone-flowered, to pompom. The chrysanthemum’s popularity increased and in 1871 Shirley Hibberd’s The Amateur’s Flower Garden listed the “Best One Hundred Chrysanthemums” of the many available. While President, Thomas Jefferson wrote in an undated letter to Mrs. (Anna Maria Brodeau) Thornton: “Th: Jefferson presents his respectful compliments to mrs Thornton and is able now to restore to her the plant of Chrysanthemum she was so kind as to send him the last summer, having taken from it this spring a luxuriant shoot and set it in a box, in which it is growing well. he returns her his thanks for the same.”
Typical Blooming Dates: October-November
Blossom Color(s): Yellow
Location at Monticello: West Lawn and East Lawn