Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310300264
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY BELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``That would have been a good one,'' she says, pinching a tiny bud from the top of the plant and tossing it to the ground.
Row by row she surveys the chrysanthemums in her make-shift backyard greenhouse, pointing out different types and how they might fare in the Skyline chapter of the National Chrysanthemum Society's show Saturday and Sunday.
Chrysanthemum people have started gathering in earnest, checking out each other's gardens, sharing tips and readying their own plants for show at Williams Memorial Baptist Church.
``I like the large ball-ly ones,'' she says. ``But I lost quite a few to the dryness and heati of the summer.''
Fizer has been growing mums for about 10 years. Her garden reveals the touches of an expert. Most of her mums will open just in time for the show.
If fall is synonymous with color, the chrysanthemum is fall's favorite flower. The hardy plant with a fresh aroma blooms in myriad colors, sizes and shapes. Most prominent in Fizer's garden are pale yellow and white blooms. Each has a name: Snow White, burgundy Ethel, Chelsea-pink.
``I am a plant lover,'' says Fizer, who spends about $150 per year on about 90 chrysanthemum plants. Getting into growing this variety was the natural thing for Fizer since her aunt was a charter member of the group.
``You nurture each little plant, and as you do, it grows and flourishes, and then you are rewarded with beautiful blooms - what beauty,'' Fizer says. Each year she experiments with different types of mums.
The 16th annual show will feature mums grown by the the club's 11 members. They meet once a month at Williams Memorial to discuss what they should be doing with their flowers.
Three members - Roberta Johnson, Lilian Carter and Ruth Hilton - are judges at national shows each year. Two of them recently returned from Canada.
``Ours is the only black chapter left in the United States,'' Fizer says. ``We are trying to keep it together.''
President Willie May Moorman says she's won ``as many blue ribbons as anyone,'' but she wasn't bragging. She is a charter member of the club and shares her secrets of prize-winning mums:
Fertilize and water plants regularly.
Experiment with different classes of chrysanthemums. There are 16 classes with a variety of shapes and colors.
Remove all but the largest bud from each stem for larger blooms.
Cover mums with dark plastic to force blooms.
When cutting, place in warm water with 3 tablespoons of sugar or 1/2 cup Sprite per gallon of water. Do not submerge leaves.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***