Growing magnificent mums year after year

How to make mums grow and thrive!

Growing mums can be easy or tricky! Here you answer the question, how to grow the most beautiful Chrysanthemums ever!  Another gardening question answered by the folks at Flea Market Gardening….YOU!

Question:

Here are some stunning chrysanthemums from the courtyard where daughter Madeline was married recently.  I have a tough time keeping mums alive, …I plant them and then they die off like annuals.  Our local nursery has them on sale for $1 per gallon pot, right now!

Do any of you have any tips for growing them?  Add them in comments below…

Your answers and tips:

Susie Blair: I plant them in the ground….sometimes they come back sometimes they don’t. Maybe plant them where they are a little protected. Move them next year where you want them to bloom. Also snip them back May 1, June 1 and July 1 and they will be really bushy….Good luck!

Debbie  Lazaroff:  I had trouble too. Then I bought one in the summer time and planted it. IT CAME BACK THE NEXT YEAR! I guess they like to be settled in before cold weather hits.

Carlyss Van Ness: I have had the same problem with these. I started giving them to my daughter after they bloomed and she planted them in the ground in a sheltered place under a tree. I had always thought they took full sun but they are growing and blooming year after year for her. Zone 9, Northern California

Barb Wilber:  These grow pretty well for me. I also put them in the ground on the south side of our house…I never thought of it before, but they are protected and get full sun. They look the best in the third year. I will post a photo!

 

Lorrell Holtz-Oxley:  Snip ’em. Also deadhead them. Small ones can grow to mighty sizes the next year! 🙂

Kathy Tomlinson:  I always plant mine when they still have greenery left…I think the key is to make sure you regularly water them after you plant them…

Kaycee Sterling:  The key is to get them in the ground early so they can get their feet settled! This year I bought some late so I didn’t put them in the ground. I just set them in little baskets and when they die off I’m going to bring them into my mud room for winter and replant in the spring. My coworker said as long as you give them a little water though out the winter they will come back. We will see! 🙂 The ones in the ground just need a little mulch for the winter and that may help!

 

Annie Grossart-Steen:  Water~ Water~ Water….

Rena Bezmen:  You know I was told by a gardener that the ones at the stores are treated as annuals, he said they usually never bloom again and often just die after they do. Do not leave in pots, put in the ground, and you will have a much better chance, if any, for success. Don’t buy when blooming, buy with buds, because after the bloom….ackkkk!

Lola Josey:  I think, from past experience, deadheading is one of the most important aspects with growing mums…no longer fool with them. I used to put them in one of the raised beds and let them do whatever…keep off certain bugs, but they will bloom again.

Laurie Wehr:  I agree with Kaycee. I tend to have a LOT better luck if I plant them in the Spring. Then they have a chance to take hold and have a stronger root system. I still don’t have 100% success, but much better odds.

 

Carol Hall:   You have to make sure you buy ones that say ‘hardy

‘ on them. I planted one several yrs ago and it came back every yr. It got so big I dug part of it out and divided it up and started moving them around. Now I have mums all over the place. I’ve even given starts away. If it doesn’t say ‘hardy’ it probably won’t come back.

Liz Davey:   I buy little ones mail order in the spring, plant them and then keep snipping off 1/2 inch on the tops every two weeks until July 4th. Cut back older ones too like this to keep them bushy. After they bloom uyou may deadhead, but don’t cut back. Late in the fall I t cover each with a basket or big flower [ot full of oak leaves and put a rock on top. Does not look great but usually gets covered with snow anyway. Remove pot and leaves about April and cut back to green coming from base of plant. This has worked for me very well in zone 5.

Carol Owings:   I usually buy them in the spring and plant them and they almost always come back.

Donna Straub:    Before buying, spring or fall, knock the plant out of its pot to see if there are fresh, viable roots. If so, you can transplant them in the fall if you dig a deep hole, refill with loose moist soil, plant the mum, and water well. After the ground freezes, mulch the flower bed to help prevent the plant from heaving out of the ground during the freezing and thawing during the winter. Sometimes I put rocks around the plant. It is getting late to plant the mums, which is the reason they are on sale. Plus the ground is terribly dry, so water it well. I have three large mums that I still need to plant and this is the procedure I’ll follow.

 

Tina Ramsey:   Here in Middle Tennessee (Zone 6/7) we must plant them in the ground prior to the first week of October so they can get established and come back. Otherwise they usually perish.

A Garden Story Mums:   They do not like to dry out. If they have been in their pot awhile and allowed to dry out, they have a hard time coming back from that. They also like good soil, so add some compost when you plant them and water well, especially the first week unless you get rain. And pinch the flower buds and the leaf buds at the end of each stem until July 15. This will make it get fuller and also insure that you will have flowers in the fall. They like full sun here in Iowa, and you can add some mulch around them too. This will help the soil and conserve moisture. And it will provide protection in the winter. I don’t cut mine back until I after I know there will be no more frosts in the spring. Then cut it back to the green growth.

Gloria Lawrence-Stage:   And don’t forget to pick the dead flowers off each stem. (dead heading)

Flea Market Gardening:   THANKS for so many good tips…I’m putting this all in a Note so we can refer to them! …I just did, so what do you think? More tips welcome!