Heirloom Chrysanthemums: Kimmie and King's Pleasure

One of the things I love most about growing heirloom chrysanthemums is that no two varieties ever feel the same. They each have their own personality, their own rhythm, and honestly, their own mood. Some feel lighthearted and playful, others show up like they own the room. Today I want to spend some time with two cultivars we grow here on the farm that perfectly illustrate just how wide the world of heirloom mums really is: ‘Kimmie’ and ‘King’s Pleasure.’

These two couldn’t be more different if they tried, and yet they both earn their place in the field every single year.

My hope with posts like this is to start building a deeper, more lasting reference for chrysanthemum growers, gardeners, and flower lovers - something you can come back to when you’re planning your garden, choosing varieties for cut flowers, or simply wanting to understand why one mum behaves so differently from another.

Let’s start where all good garden stories do: with character.

‘Kimmie’ is what I lovingly call a happy mum. The first time it blooms each season, I always stop what I’m doing and just look at it for a minute. Its defining feature is its spoon-shaped petals - long, narrow florets that widen at the tips, like tiny golden spoons catching the light. This puts ‘Kimmie’ squarely in the spoon-flowered class of chrysanthemums, a form that feels both old-fashioned and delightfully quirky.

Kimmie is available in our 2026 plant lineup. Shop here while supplies last.

The blooms are a warm, glowing yellow that reads cheerful rather than loud. In the garden, ‘Kimmie’ has a lighter presence than many exhibition-style mums. It doesn’t shout for attention; it charms you into noticing it.

From a growing standpoint, ‘Kimmie’ is vigorous and well-branched, producing plenty of usable stems when pinched and grown with intention. It responds beautifully to full sun and consistent moisture, and like most mums, it thrives in rich, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Give it space to branch and good airflow, and it will reward you.

Where ‘Kimmie’ really shines is in cut flower work. Those spooned petals add texture and movement that designers love, especially in late-season bouquets when other crops are starting to fade. It plays well with grasses, seed heads, and softer autumn tones, bringing warmth without overwhelming the arrangement.

Historically, ‘Kimmie’ is one of those heirloom varieties whose exact origin story has been softened by time. Like many older chrysanthemums, it wasn’t bred for patents or mass-market sales. Instead, it has survived because growers kept choosing it year after year for its reliability, charm, and unmistakable form. That kind of quiet longevity tells you a lot!

If ‘Kimmie’ is the friendly conversation in the corner, ‘King’s Pleasure’ is the one that walks in and immediately commands attention.

King's Pleasure is available in our 2026 plant lineup. Shop here while supplies last.

This is a reflex-type chrysanthemum, meaning its petals curve downward and outward, forming a large, full, domed bloom. The effect is dramatic, lush, and deeply traditional - the kind of flower that reminds you why chrysanthemums were once the stars of fall exhibitions and formal gardens.

The color is another rich golden yellow, but the feeling is entirely different from ‘Kimmie.’ ‘King’s Pleasure’ is substantial. The blooms are large, the stems are strong, and the plant has a confident, upright habit that makes it a standout in both the field and the vase.

Culturally, this is a workhorse variety when grown well. It appreciates the same fundamentals as most heirloom mums - full sun, fertile soil, consistent watering, but it especially benefits from good support as the blooms develop. Those heavy, reflexed flowers mean business, and a bit of netting or staking ensures the stems stay straight and proud through wind and rain.

For growers interested in cut flower production, ‘King’s Pleasure’ offers impressive yields of high-impact stems. It’s a favorite for large arrangements and statement pieces, and it holds its own beautifully as a focal flower. In the garden, it anchors fall beds and borders with a sense of abundance that feels almost ceremonial.

Like many historic chrysanthemums, the precise breeding and registration records for ‘King’s Pleasure’ aren’t neatly packaged in modern databases. Its legacy lives instead in nursery catalogs, grower exchanges, and long-standing collections. This is a variety that earned its name by being grown, shared, and admired - not by being marketed.

What makes ‘Kimmie’ and ‘King’s Pleasure’ so special isn’t just how they look, but how clearly they demonstrate the range of expression within heirloom chrysanthemums.

One offers whimsy, texture, and approachability.
The other delivers drama, structure, and classic form.

From a grower’s perspective, having both in the field allows us to serve gardeners, designers, and farmers with very different needs. From a preservation standpoint, growing and sharing both helps keep these distinct genetic and aesthetic lineages alive.

This is the heart of heirloom mum stewardship and our efforts with The Mum Project. These plants are living history, shaped as much by the hands that continue to grow them as by the breeders who first selected them decades ago. Every season they’re in the ground, they’re teaching us something about timing, resilience, beauty, and patience.

This post is just a beginning. My goal is to continue documenting these varieties: how they grow, how they behave, how they perform in different conditions so that over time we’re creating a real, usable body of knowledge for anyone who loves chrysanthemums as much as we do.

Whether you’re planting one mum in your backyard or planning rows of them for cutting, these details matter. And they deserve to be remembered, shared, and built upon.

If you’re growing ‘Kimmie’ or ‘King’s Pleasure’ this season, I hope you take the time to really notice them. Watch how they open. See how they move in the wind. Pay attention to what they teach you and don't be afraid to share it with us.

That’s how heirlooms stay alive - not just in the soil, but in the stories we tell about them.

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