How to Keep Your Mums Blooming All Fall Long
- Water—but don't overwater—your mums according to their growth cycle. While established mums can be watered as infrequently as once per week, Godfrey says that younger plants need more frequent watering ...
- Fertilize your mums in the spring and summer. ...
- Mulch matters. ...
- Pinch your mums, please. ...
- Cut back old stems. ...
- Don't forget to deadhead. ...
How to make your mums bloom longer this fall?
- Avoid heavy pruning until spring.
- Mulch around the base of plants before freezing weather sets in but use only a thin layer to prevent suffocating plant roots.
- Never leave newly purchased potted mums outdoors during winter.
How to keep mums from blooming too early?
Preventing Premature Budding in Mums
- Concerns with Premature Budding. There are three premature budding scenarios. ...
- Premature Budding in Cuttings. ...
- Causes of Premature Budding – Lack of Water and Fertilizer. ...
- Causes of Premature Budding – Cold Temperatures. ...
- Other Causes of Premature Budding. ...
How long do mums last when they are in Bloom?
How long do potted mums last outside?
- Place your mums in a sunny area in your home. Find a window that allows lots of sun in and be sure it gets at least four hours a day ...
- Keep the soil moist.
- Deadhead often for lasting blooms.
- Once your mums stop blooming, you can place them in the ground outdoors once the weather starts to warm.
How to plant mums in the fall?
Planning Your Mum Garden
- Use shorter cushion mums to carpet a slope. ...
- Start a nursery bed where you can grow your own mums from cuttings. ...
- When a killing frost is predicted, pot up your mums and bring them indoors to adorn the Thanksgiving table.
- Plant taller varieties for use as cut flowers. ...
When should I buy fall mums?
Mid-September is the earliest time you should consider buying mums. However, each year the longer and hotter summers are pushing that date later and later into September, even into the month of October. As a rule, we at Southern Living recommend "buying plants as they start to break bud.
How many times do mums bloom in the fall?
Early bloomers often begin flowering in late July, early fall bloomers show off blooms in September and late fall bloomers start their stunning display of colors in October. Each variety differs, but most mums will continue to bloom for four to eight weeks.
Do mums keep blooming all fall?
The buds will bloom over the course of several weeks, providing a continuous showing of beautiful flowers. To keep your outdoor space filled with flowering mums all season, select an assortment of varieties that bloom at different times from late summer through mid-fall.
Do mums bloom in October?
When Do Mums Bloom? Many mums bloom throughout the fall months, but some species will provide blooms from late spring through the fall.
Do mums come back every year in pots?
You will have some buds on them by then, but don't worry. They will grow back and your plant won't look dead in the middle." Many people buy mums in the fall thinking the plants are annuals. These people toss the mums in the trash once the blooms have faded.
Can mums survive the winter in pots?
With potted mums, the first key is to never let them endure a freeze in their pot or container. Mums can survive light frosts and cold fairly easy, but a hard freeze can kill roots in pots permanently.
Fall Mums: The Basics
Fall Mums, also known as Garden Chrysanthemums, are colorful flowers that give your garden an autumnal feel as the months start to get colder. Originally cultivated in China as an herb, mums were associated with having the power of life. No wonder they liven up your front porch!
Plant Care For Fall Mums
Caring for Fall Mums the right way will allow them to come back year after year. Mums can overwinter in the garden in climates where these plants are cold-hardy to local winter conditions. Gardeners in Zone 6 and cooler may want to overwinter Fall Mums in containers indoors unless they are sure the variety is cold-hardy to their local zone.
How To Get Fall Mums To Come Back Every Year
The easiest way to get Fall Mums to come back every year is to buy them in the spring as Perennial Mum plants. Choose a variety that’s hardy enough to survive the winter in your local area and get the plant in the garden in the springtime. Cut it back in late June or early July, before letting it go on to flower in the fall.
Common Mistakes To Avoid With Fall Mums
There are a few mistakes people make when planting mums that prevent them from growing back the next year. The first mistake people make is not knowing the difference between types of mums.
Cutting Back And Pinching Blooms
Ideally, mums should be cut back and pruned starting in early to mid-June.
When To Stop Pinching Back
Although July 4th has long been a traditional stopping point for pruning and pinching mums, they can be pruned back a bit up until the last week of July if buds have not yet formed.
Fertilizing – How To Get Your Mums To Bloom This Fall
Mums are heavy soil feeders, using a lot of nitrogen and phosphorous to power their growth.
Mulching With Compost
Mums also benefit greatly from a layer of compost mulch placed around each plant. Not only will it help the plant to retain moisture, it also provides a slow release of nutrients to the root system below.
If planted at the right time and tended properly, these pretty, cool-season flowers can live longer than you think
Boldly colored fall mums on porches or planted in garden beds are wonderful harbingers of fall, going hand in hand with that nip in the air, the turning leaves, and the children in their back-to-school clothes.
How to Care for Mums to Keep Them Blooming All Autumn Long
To maximize the blooming potential of fall mums, buy and plant them in spring, diligently pinch back growth, and deadhead spent flowers. Here are seasonal steps you can take to help your fall mums flourish all year long.
Different Types of Mums
Here are a few hardy garden mum varieties to consider for your landscape. Given that plants in Zone 5 can withstand temperatures to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (and plants in Zone 3 can survive temperatures of -40 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit), these mums’ frost tolerance is pretty high.
How to Care for Potted Mums
Mums make excellent container plants, and the potted fall blooms look gorgeous on a front porch or balcony. When buying potted mums, pick plants that look healthy and aren’t in full bloom. At home, here’s what to do to keep potted mums happy:
Final Thoughts
If all of this sounds like a lot of work or a gamble to you, there is yet another option available: Buy your fall mums where and when the mood strikes, enjoy them for the season, then say goodbye.
FAQs About Fall Mum Care
Yes. With proper care, fall mums can come back every year. Garden mums or hardy mums are perennials that will return under the right conditions.
Why Grow Hardy Mums?
Hardy mums are drought-resistant, don’t generally get a lot of diseases or attract pests, and are very low maintenance. Additionally, this late-season bloomer comes in a wide variety of colors and sizes so it will look at home in any style of garden.
Where to Buy Mums in the Fall
Many garden centers are selling hardy mums for fall, as they are such a great way to add some vibrant color to the autumn garden. I’ve also seen them in grocery stores, as well as home improvement stores.
How to Plant Mums in the Garden
If you wish to transplant your hardy mums from a container to your garden, be sure to do it before the first frost of the season. Make sure you plant them in a location that gets about six hours of sun per day and has well-draining soil. Do not fertilize mums in the fall as this can negatively affect blooming.
Planting Mums
In late summer when other plants call it quits, mums hit their stride. Like poinsettias, they're photoperiodic, meaning they rely on specific amounts of light to send the signal that it's time to start putting on a show.
Growing Mums as Perennials
Though technically perennials, mums are often grown as annuals owing to shallow root systems inclined to heave right out of the ground during winter's freeze-thaw cycles. If you live where winter can be frigid (USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 6), go with early-blooming varieties — they're more likely to come back in subsequent years.
Caring for Mums
Soil: While mums thrive in just about any soil type, they do benefit from generous helpings of homemade compost. Dig in a spadeful at planting time and topdress with more. Soil must be well drained, however, or the plants will rot.
Taking Cuttings From Mums
Creating new plants from your favorite mums is easy, says Galen Goss, executive director of the National Chrysanthemum Society. Simply snip off a 4-inch stem with leaves on it and put it in a pot filled with a soilless medium, such as vermiculite. Keep it moist and outdoors in a bright spot.
Planning Your Mum Garden
Use shorter cushion mums to carpet a slope. Foot-tall mounds of lush foliage make an attractive groundcover until late summer, when colorful flower heads steal the show.
Choosing Mum Varieties
For stopping traffic: The spider mum Senkyo Kenshin stands 3½ feet tall. It blooms midseason, with about 27 striking, reddish-bronze blossoms per plant.
When Do Chrysanthemums Bloom?
One of the easiest, low maintenance plants is the hardy chrysanthemum. Mums are common nursery and gift plants and produce prodigious amounts of flowers in the later season when few plants are blooming. This attractive trait, along with the myriad of colors and forms of chrysanthemum flowers, enhances the popularity of this readily available plant.
Tricks and Tips if Mums are Not Flowering
Chrysanthemums are very easy to care for and require little maintenance. Wait until spring to cut the plant back. Cutting the plant back will force the plant to produce more branching stems, which will provide more places for buds to form. Some gardeners cut them back to 2 inches (5 cm.) above the ground while others opt for gentle tipping back.
How to Keep Chrysanthemums Blooming
Now that you have a nice compact plant with plenty of buds, you want to keep the flowering going as long as possible. If your plant is well fed and gets plenty of water, it will have the fuel to produce all those bright flowers.
Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale)
You might be familiar with the spring-blooming crocus, but this little beauty does not put on its show until fall. Autumn crocus grows best in partial shade, and a little dampness is welcome. It grows only a few inches tall and makes a wonderful carpet scattered under trees and along walkways.
Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)
Balloon flower is in the Campanulaceae family, but its flowers are a bit more dramatic. While it mostly blooms in the summertime, it also can bloom in the fall if you deadhead it (remove spent blooms). It starts off as a puff or bubble and pops open when it is ready to bloom. Balloon flower is a profuse bloomer.
Blue Mist Shrub (Caryopteris x clandonensis)
The blue mist shrub is often grown in the perennial garden and typically blooms in late summer or fall. It slowly opens its blossoms with dazzling flower clusters that butterflies and bumblebees love. The blue mist shrub should be cut back in early spring to maintain its size and shape and to remove any dead or diseased portions.
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Goldenrod is one of the last flowers to bloom in the fall, with its bloom period generally stretching from August to October. There are more than 100 species in the goldenrod family. The plants typically reach around 5 feet tall and display clusters of tiny yellow flowers at the tops of their stems when they are in bloom.
Japanese Anemone (Anemone x hybrida)
Japanese anemone starts blooming in late summer and goes straight through until frost. The paper-like blooms are white or pink with yellow stamens in the center, and they're known to attract butterflies. This plant requires little maintenance once it's established, though some taller plants might need staking to prevent flopping.
Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)
Joe Pye weed is a native plant that grows in erect clumps around 5 feet tall. It can make a wonderful backdrop to a garden border. In midsummer to early fall, tiny mauve blooms appear in round clusters or florets. Each plant has around five to seven of these florets, and the flowers give off a light vanilla scent.
Mums (Chrysanthemum)
Mums are a common sight of fall in the garden, with their brilliant and profuse blooms. While mums are showcased in garden centers in the fall, if you plan to grow yours as a perennial, it's best to get mums in the ground in the spring to become established before cold weather hits. Make sure your plant is well watered, especially in hot weather.