Mums the Word — Ag Student Grows 100 Mums for Homecoming

This Same Student Grew 200 Poinsettias Last Winter A senior agriculture student at Wilmington College has spent this semester tending to 100 bright yellow mums as a project fostering her interest in horticulture. PICTURED: Wading into a sea of yellow, senior Emily Harman inspects one of her 100 potted mums she's grown over the past six weeks. Emily Harman, a senior from Versailles majoring in agronomy with a concentration in horticulture, took over growing the mums in one of WC’s greenhouses when she arrived for the fall semester in August and now — a week before Homecoming — the autumn flowers are about ready to make their debut. The project is associated with Harman’s course, Community Supported Agriculture, in which campus community members purchased “shares” and have been receiving,, since early September, weekly allotments of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, squash and other late-summer produce grown on the College farm. Shareholders will receive mums later this month. But, more immediately, some of the golden bounty will be planted on campus and used in the College’s Homecoming festivities Oct. 14.