Mum's the word

Wayne J. Doctore stood in his backyard on a cool, late-summer morning with a hint of fall in the air and a blaze of glory at his feet.

He is the king of chrysanthemums in Jefferson County, and each fall he oversees his potted subjects in Dexter. He has more than an acre of them, and the flowers stood in colorful rows, waiting to be snatched up by customers.

"I don't know anyone in Jefferson County that grows more of them than me," Mr. Doctore said.

He planted 6,300 of them in pots this year and still won't be able to meet demand.

Chrysanthemums are the optimists of the flower world. With a frost, no doubt, a few weeks away, they bloom and care not, nor do their dedicated fans, who use the plants for decoration in the fading growing season.

Mr. Doctore, owner of Doctore's Landscaping & Greenhouse, explained he began growing mums about 13 years ago when he potted 1,200 of them.

"I figured the first year, I'd probably throw half of them away," he said. "I didn't. I sold them all. In the second year, I planted 4,500 and still had to turn people away."

That trend continues for his customers, who are attracted by the fullness of the plants and their prices; that is, the customers who can find him.

"I'm definitely off the beaten path," Mr. Doctore said. "I have to get people to come to me."

A Guy on a Bike found Doctore's Landscaping & Greenhouse from Watertown by taking a right off Route 180 and onto William Street. At the tavern and coffee shop, he took a left at the Canal Street intersection and rode up a slight hill, past the Red Barn Gift Shop and, further up on the right, past three huge and rusting former fuel containers.

East Grove is the last street on the left as one heads out of town on William Street, which intersects with Route 12. Look for Mr. Doctore's sign. Don't be afraid of the two dogs that may come up and bark a welcome to you. But if one of the dogs gives you a tennis ball, they would appreciate it, please, if you would give it a toss so they can retrieve it.

Mr. Doctore's brown, weathered, gray-bearded face was topped by a well-worn Pepsi baseball cap. The lanky gardener and landscaper, 64, continued his talk about the mums as he enjoyed a cigarette.

He sells them at $3.50 for each potted plant. He also sells three plants in half-bushel baskets for $22 and four plants in "supermarket corn crates" for $30.

He looked over the rows and rows of mums in a rainbow of colors: five shades of orange, two shades of purple, three pinks, one rose and one dark purple. Buds come in daisy, button or pompom style. He has about 30 varieties.

"They sell themselves once people see them," he said.

His mum mass is mainly grown for fun, not profit.

"I guess I should be selling them for $6 apiece to make a profit," he said.

Mr. Doctore walked his guest over to a new Belgian variety he started this year and noted its multitude of buds — easily more than a few hundred.

"It looks like a miniature porcupine," he said. "I wouldn't want to count the buds on it. I'd be here forever."

His two dogs were attracted to a customer who wandered into the chrysanthemums field. Ann E. Levy looked it over in amazement. "Do you grow all of these yourself?" she asked.

After being given the rundown, Ms. Levy, Ithaca, explained she has a summer home on Millens Bay, town of Cape Vincent, and some friends there suggested she seek out the mums at Doctore's.

"There's nothing prettier in the fall than beautiful mums," she said.

She left with eight of them.

"These are so beautiful and full," she said. "I'll be stopping by more often. I've been coming up here for 40 years and I never knew about this place."

Ms. Levy suggested to Mr. Doctore than he put another sign out front to draw attention to the mums. He shrugged off the idea, noting people "are keyed" to look for his ad in the Watertown Daily Times.

"It's one of those things," he said. "If people find me, they find me."

The gardening bug found Mr. Doctore in the 1970s when he worked as a landscaper, a job he took on after quitting his job at Carrier Air Conditioner Corp., Syracuse. Among his clients were Mr. and Mrs. David Knowlton of Flower Avenue West in Watertown.

"They had a little greenhouse," Mr. Doctore said. "I just experimented with different seeds. I ended up buying a used greenhouse in Rochester. From there, I bought another greenhouse. Now, I have 4,800 square feet under plastic."

He has two employees at his business, which, besides mums, sells hanging baskets and other flower and vegetable plants.

Mr. Doctore begins the mum-growing process the second week of June, when he plants "rooted cuttings." The pots, crates and baskets are filled with potting soil by hand. The pots are wired down on sheets of plastic to prevent them from being blown away. They are watered by an irrigation system manufactured by Chapin Watermatics Inc., Watertown.

The center of each plant is carefully spaced 20 inches away from the center of the plant surrounding it, a trick Mr. Doctore discovered after the first year when the plants were placed too close to each other.

"They grew square, like boxes," he said.

By the first weekend of October, all of Mr. Doctore's mums will have found new homes. He has room to expand, but he thinks he's at his limit.

"It's a lot of work," he said.

His visitor asks him if he goes out in the fishing boat stored in back of his house.

"I don't have time," he said, and laughed, as he walked away to aid another customer among the mums.

A Guy on a Bike is an occasional column in which the rider introduces you to people and places along roads you might easily miss. If you have a suggested ride/column idea, contact cbrock@wdt.net, or write to Chris Brock at the Watertown Daily Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown, N.Y. 13601.