Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, has unveiled the largest mum ever grown outside of Asia: the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum. This amazing plant features 1,509 uniform blooms on ONE plant. The Thousand Bloom is a highlight of the annual Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens.

Called the Thousand Bloom, the plant derives its name from the ambitious goal of cultivating a single plant to produce as many perfectly placed blooms as possible. This ancient technique, known in Japan as Ozukuri, originated hundreds of years ago in Asia and is the most exacting and challenging of all chrysanthemum training styles. Longwood’s Thousand Bloom measures an impressive 12 feet wide and nearly 8 feet tall and took 18 months of careful nurturing and training to grow into its final form.