Flowers that can withstand a Minnesota late-fall frost? Seems like a tall order. But as much as Minnesotans are hardy, they’re also innovative.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have shaped the aesthetic appearance and cold-hardiness of chrysanthemums all around the globe. Today the University operates the longest continuous chrysanthemum breeding program anywhere in the world.

It’s a prolific one, too, having developed more than 100 novel chrysanthemum types, all of which can bloom outside during cold weather.

Neil Anderson, PhD, a professor in the UMN College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences who leads the program, says mums are worth more than their beauty alone. He and his colleagues are tracking two main research avenues today beyond aesthetics: using mums to create green pesticides and in a health-boosting tea.

Green pesticides can be derived from natural compounds in some mum species, Anderson says, and have the potential to eliminate many insects, including disease-carrying bugs which are safe for both humans and the environment.

UMN researchers are working with Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium, a type of mum native to Europe, to create a cold-hardy mum variety for use in green pesticide production.

A potted mum cultivar that can be dehydrated to make tea is also in the works. Taking lessons from China, Japan and Korea, this line of work aims to leverage mums’ natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, he says.

The University of Minnesota chrysanthemum breeding program is generously supported by the newly established Dr. Lewis E. Longley Horticultural Research Fund, named in honor of the researcher who developed the cold-hardy ‘Duluth’ mum cultivar in 1939, paving the way for the many others that followed. The McLaughlin Gormley King Company in Minneapolis and its parent company, Sumitomo Biorational in Japan, have also donated funds for green pesticide breeding and chrysanthemum development.

“Bringing Dr. Longley’s legacy into our modern research helps us explore avenues we wouldn’t otherwise have the funding to explore, like the creation of tea,” Anderson says. “This research could revolutionize the potted mum market and also improve the health of consumers.”