A New Spray Chrysanthemum Cultivar, "Moon Festival" with Vigorous Semi-Double Flower Type and Light-ivory White Petals for Cut Flower

A new spray chrysanthemum cultivar, 'Moon Festival' was released by National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Korea in 2007. A cross was made in 2002 between '01B1-559', a breeding line of NHRI and 'Baeksokuk', a spray cultivar with white petals. Trials were conducted from 2005 to 2007 for evaluation and selection of this cultivar, including shading culture in summer and retarding culture in autumn. The natural flowering time of "Moon Festival" is late October, but year-round flowering is possible by shading and lighting treatment. The cultivar is semi- double type flowers with light-ivory white petals and green flower center. Flower neck and stem are very hardy. The diameter of flower is 67.5 mm. The number of flowers per stem and petals per flower is 11.5 and 100.5, respectively. The days to flowering under the short day is about 54 in autumn season.