Chrysanthemum Classification

All Chrysanthemums are divided into groups, dependent on their colour, type, bloom size and flowering time. This is known as classification and, if you are exhibiting your blooms, it is important to ensure that you show them in the correct class.

There are six main colour categories: Bronze, Pink, Purple, Red, Yellow and Salmon, which can also be either Light or Deep. The other groups are White, Cream and Other Colours, bringing the total number of possible colours to 21. Type refers to the arrangement of petals on the flower and the shape of the bloom, and is often referred to as the 'section', for example, Reflexed or Incurved. Size is either small, medium or large and, for the purpose of classification, flowering time is divided into either September (Early), October (Mid) or November (Late). Each of these criteria is represented by either a number or letter, therefore, each variety can be described by a short code, which indicates its characteristics.

For example: Joyce Frieda (pictured above) is coded 13bY. The number (13) refers to the flowering time and type or section - '1' being mid-season flowering and '3' signifying an incurved bloom. The lower case letter (b) is the size of bloom, in this case medium, and the upper case letter (Y) shows the colour, which is yellow.

The table below gives all the various sections and explains the divisions within them.