The Korean Contribution To Dogwood Trees
The country of Korea has contributed a dogwood which is highly recommended by plant explorer Earnest Wilson as one of the most distinct of all the tree dogwoods: Cornus coreana grows sometimes as high as 40 feet, and has flat dusters of flowers.
Among the herbaceous plants. Astilbe “koreana” should be mentioned. It has the usual plumose head of white to pinkish blossoms, characteristic of the astilbes, which unfortunately is so heavy that the stalks cannot hold the flowers erect. Nevert-eless, it is a first-class garden plant. seldom exceeding two feet.
Perhaps the best known and most popular of all Korean plants is the group of hybrids developed from Chrysanthemum coreanum, commonly called Korean chrysanthemums, although Korean hybrids is a more accurate term.
Harlan P. Kelsey was the first to cross and work on the progeny of Chrysanthemum coreanum and Chrysanthemum indicant, but the work was carried on by the late Alex Cummings who developed and popularized the Korean hybrids. Cummings, in his book hardy Chrysanthemums says, “it just happened to be my good fortune to stumble across this valuable parent Chrysanthemum coreanum… which is a remarkably hardy wild species, with white, daisy-like flowers.”
This proved to be a receptive and pliant species for breeding, and it became the dominant parent in the development of the hybrid Korean type. The first of Mr. Cummings’ hybrid Koreans was introduced in 1933. Since that date there has been great interest in new varieties, and they probably rank now among the most popular garden flowers.
The Korean hybrids are robust and branching in habit, and retain the hardiness of the dominant parent, the Korean daisy. There is a great variety in colors, ranging from a pastel-like daintiness to an intense brilliance. Mr. Cummings. speaking of our horticultural debt to Korea, says, “Korea, associated with much of our fine garden material of today, looms large in the history of the garden chrysanthemums - both the very ancient and the very recent… It is a matter of record that in 380 A.D. seed of the chrysanthemum was introduced from a foreign country. That foreign country. Taik-Ise, is now one of the states of Korea.”
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