While it may be tempting to pick a mum with blooms, your best bet is one with buds. Photo by Chabella Guzman
By Katie Markheim, Nebraska Extension Master Gardener
Have you run across the latest mum meme on social media? It states, “Finally time to go pick out which mums to put by my front door and kill this fall.”
If you’re on the hunt for mums, I hope you find the right ones, but I really hope they stay alive and last in your garden as a hearty perennial. Chrysanthemums are one of the most popular plants for late summer and fall flower gardens, added for quick color in the landscape. Coming in a wide array of colors and sizes, mums are extensively sold as flowering potted plants for landscape beds or outdoor containers. Be aware, though, many chrysanthemum cultivars are not reliably winter hardy in Nebraska and, therefore, are used more as fall-flowering annuals. Before you go shopping for mums, know the difference. There are varieties that are considered annual and are used mostly as cut flowers in arrangements sold by retailers. There are varieties that are meant to be perennials planted in the landscape, offering color and texture year-round, returning year after year. A couple recommended cultivars for planting zones 3-5 are Mammoth Mums or Igloo Mums.
You may wonder why mums bloom in the fall. The plants are photoperiodic, which means they respond to changing day length in the fall. So, when our days begin to shorten in fall, that is their cue to start flowering. “Short-day” plants, like mums, flower when day length is less than 12 hours, and some varieties have been developed to flower earlier or later in the fall based on their genetics. This is typically identified on plants for sale in garden centers, with wording like “early season” or “late season.”
It’s no secret, though, that late-season mums are often overlooked by gardeners because they appear somewhat bland at the garden center. While they are full of green flower buds waiting to burst open when days are short enough, they don’t have the showy, brilliant color of earlier varieties that are in full bloom right now. It’s hard to resist the urge to buy a plant filled with flowers, but to enjoy the entire bloom in your home garden, purchase the less showy, later-season varieties. In fact, for an easier transplanting transition, it’s best to select a plant with unopened buds or just starting to flower.
When placing your perfect mum, choose a planting spot that receives about six hours of full sunlight per day. If your plant is potted, consider a planting depth that is set with the upper surface of the soil ball slightly below ground level. Be sure to add any necessary organic matter to your soil prior to planting and space plants adequately. Newly set mum plants should be kept uniformly moist, not wet. One good watering a week (about one inch) usually is adequate. Be sure to pinch, or deadhead, any fading flowers, discolored foliage, or damaged stems. Plants can be fertilized with a complete garden fertilizer four weeks after planting. Mulching and leaving on the tops are best practices to capitalize on the greatest chance to overwinter your mum, giving you late summer or early fall color next year.
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