The plant that provides the last hurrah in my southern Indiana garden each fall is the old-fashioned Korean daisy chrysanthemum "Sheffield." It is pink, which is certainly not a fall color, but it gives me bountiful flowers to harvest.

The flowers look a little like those of "Clara Curtis" but "Sheffield" is much more vigorous and the flowers are large with great substance, and they last two weeks in a vase.

Pass It On

Many years ago a friend left a start of this mum on my front porch, and grateful for her generosity I have passed it along to nearly every gardener I know. It certainly qualifies as a "pass-along" plant which is such an evocative descriptor.

The idea that a plant, so adaptable that it readily takes root in a succession of gardens and in the hearts of the gardeners. It is undemanding but needs sun and also pinching back in order to prevent it growing lanky.

Mine blooms in mid October so I need to stop pinching it at least six weeks before that time so that it can set its buds. The innocence of daisies, and the generosity embodied in the fall-blooming daisy, gladdens my heart each October.