When you enter the gates of the Flower and Garden Show at the N.C. State Fair you are greeted by a colorful tower of mums affectionately known as the mum tree. Each year, thousands of visitors to the fair stop and take their photo with this symbol of fall.
The mum tree has its “roots” back to the early 80’s, when the Men’s Garden Club of Wake County borrowed a metal tree frame from Dr. Roy Larson, a floriculture professor at N.C. State University, who had originally used the frame to display poinsettias. “The garden club borrowed this tree for their mums for about five years,” said Tony Avent, former landscape director at the N.C. State Fair and current proprietor for Plant Delights in Raleigh. “I was then able to persuade fair management to have one built of their own. This project was outsourced to the NC DOT welding shop. The mum tree quickly became a must visit spot when people came to the fair.”
The tree brought its share of challenges as it is not something that can be put together too far in advance of the fair. “Usually, it was the day before the fair that the mum tree has to be assembled, which is a very chaotic time on the fairgrounds,” said Avent. “It took a lot of work to carefully arrange the mums, make sure there were no visible gaps, and then install automatic water drip tubes securely in each pot. To our knowledge, it was the first, or maybe only, mum tree in the country. The work was worth it to see people’s faces when they came in.”
This first mum tree was in use until 1994, when Avent retired from the N.C. State Fair. For more than 10 years there was not a mum tree in the N.C. State Fair flower show. This was for a variety of reasons, the Men’s Garden Club stopped growing their own mums in the Flower Show and commercial pot sizes for mum containers changed from a standard 6-inch pot to an 8-inch pot, making the wire holders harder to use.
Likely, if it wasn’t for superintendent Erv Evans, who oversaw the N.C. State Flower Show from 2008 to 2018, the State Fair mum tree might be just a memory for those who attended the fair in the 1980s and 1990s.
Evans found the old mum tree frame in the stockade covered in leaves and branches. He repaired the metal frame and upfitted it to fit the new standard commercial sizes for mums. Since 2012, the mum tree has returned to being a much-photographed symbol of the N.C. State Fair.
Today, Flower Show superintendent Dan Danford is the one responsible for carrying on the tradition. He takes his role seriously, spending hours coming up with designs and color combination ideas for the current year’s display. Recent years have seen mums displayed to look like candy corn, a butterfly and, in 2023, the mum tree was affectionally named “Mumbo” and resembled a fall-inspired rainbow.
“I want fairgoers who visit the Flower and Garden Show to be wowed when they enter,” said Danford. “We are a really great part of the N.C. State Fair and a little bit like stepping into a different world away from the hustle and bustle of the carnival. This is an oasis and a place to relax on your fair visit.”
Today, a farm in Wilson County provides the mums used in the Flower Show at the N.C. State Fair. HC and Betty Williams and their sons David and Michael own Williams Plant Farm in Sims. The Willaims family provides more than 1,500 mums each year.
The farm has about three acres of greenhouse space and six acres of outdoor space for growing seasonal plants. In the fall this includes pansies and ornamental veggies. For Christmas they grow poinsettias and Christmas cactuses. They also grow hanging baskets and foliage plants. Most of their plants are sold to independent garden centers and grocery stores within North Carolina.
“Our mums are started by unrooted cuttings in a greenhouse in May,” said Michael Williams. “By June the cuttings develop roots and are put outside in containers and watered daily. We have a good assortment of yellow, bronze, orange, red, white and purple mums.”
“Mum’s work in response groups to day length,” he added. “With some varieties showing good color into September and others later. We bring the mums we believe will have the best color during the fair.”
Danford and his crew take over after delivery, making sure these perennial favorites maintain their beauty from the first day of the fair through the last. “Mums require a lot of water, which is often done at night once the Flower Show closes, said Danford. ‘We want visitors to be greeted with beauty once we open each day.”
The Flower Show is located near the Village of Yesteryear and Heritage Circle. During the fair it is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m., except Oct. 17, when the exhibit will open at noon. In addition to the signature mum tree, the show features competitions including cut perennial and annual flowers, scented herbs and potted plants, flower arrangements, bonsai and themed gardens from individuals and clubs. Flower Show attendants are usually stationed at the mum tree to assist fairgoers that want to get their photo taken at this favorite fair spot.