Depending on the day and how the stars are aligning the plant in today’s profile can be known as  Chrysanthemum pacificum  or Ajania pacificum , and if you are unsure which is correct you can always use it’s  common name,  Silver and Gold Chrysanthemum. Call it what you want, it is a worthy addition to the late season garden. It was brought to us gardeners here in the states very recently after being seen by National Arboretum staff in a nursery in Japan ( where it is indigenous) . I have seen  news articles from the  1980’s  that  predicted this wonder of a plant would be the” next big thing”  when in was first introduced  given its delicate yet striking silver edged foliage, its graceful form , ease of growth and propagation, and bonus little button yellow flowers in late ( and I mean LATE) Fall, yet as far as I can see that has yet to happen. It should though, and if you see this plant, which has been known to grace the shelves of Lowes as well as the catalog pages of sophisticated nurseries, you absolutely must purchase it and add it to your little piece of heaven. ( this photo taken off wikipedia )

Silver and gold chrysanthemum’s  foliage is so unusual  and will pair well with many other plants, and honestly you could grow this for the leaves alone.  In the spring, which is when this plant can be moved and planted most successfully,  I am going to pair one up with an earlier blooming cream or white chrysanthemum, maybe ‘Mellow Moon’  ( seen below) to really bring out the silver edge. It would also work with shasta diasies  or even the annual tiger paw asters. On second thought, maybe I will move a few 😉

Right now it is loving life on the very edge of the rock garden where it does get a significant amount of  sun and most importantly good drainage. Like many of it’s family members it despises wet feet and will not make a winter if it is in placed in a location that stays waterlogged after snow melt. Other than that is it easy to grow, taking or hazy hot and humid summers in stride without ever looking bedraggled , and pretty drought tolerant to boot. You may have to look a bit if you want to purchase plant , given that the predicted popularity never happened many catalogs discontinued carrying it and finding anything at local stores and nurseries is always unpredictable at best. You can get it at  Lazy s Farms online  and they have a newer introduction called ‘Pink Ice’ available too.