How to keep Mums

Garden Mums are heroes of the fall garden.  Easy to care for and inexpensive, mums will give a splash of colour that will last until we decorate the porch for Christmas.

Mums are now available everywhere:  at grocery stores, box stores, garden centres and hardware stores.  They’ve arrived just in time to tune up the garden where a few annuals are beginning to lose their luster. 

Mums are photo-tropic, meaning their bloom cycle is greatly affected by day length.  This year, their blooms have popped open a few days later than usual, because August gave us more rain and less sun than the norm. 

To maximize the impact and enjoyment of your fall mums, read the following tips:

Buy mums when they are in bud rather than in full bloom.  Mums that are showing lots of colour will last until Thanksgiving, while mums that are in bud will give long lasting colour well after Halloween.  For our front porch, we will wait until the end of September and will look for mums whose buds have not yet opened.

Mums need water.  Unfortunately mums won’t wilt and won’t show signs of drought until it is too late.  If you leave your newly bought mums in their grower’s pot, be sure to give them water every day.  Even when fall brings cool and cloudy weather, mums remain thirsty. 

To extend the life of your mums, it is a good idea to plant them in the ground or transplant into larger pots.  Simply tip the potted mum on its side and slide the mum out of its pot.  You will notice the roots are tight and spiraling within the pot.  Use a fork to scratch the edges of the root zone to encourage new roots to spread.  Water well immediately after planting.

Despite mum’s love of water, they don’t like to be waterlogged.  If planting in heavy soil, modify your soil with peat moss and compost and don’t plant too deep.

Mums like to be planted where they can take advantage of sun and heat.  In gardens where there is partial shade, mums will stretch their stems and bloom a little later. 

Garden mums are perennials, which means they will succumb to frost, remain dormant through winter and regrow in spring.  The trick to keeping mums growing year after year is to maintain their health through fall, spread mulch around their roots, and don’t wait till November to plant. 

Plant mums in good garden soil early in the fall.  Before the ground freezes, add a layer of wood mulch, leaves or straw over and around the plant to provide insulation.  Leave the plant stems intact, waiting till spring to cut back the dry stems.  Early in spring, once the soil warms up, remove the mulch to reveal fresh new growth. 

In the garden, mums can be left alone and will likely bloom periodically through summer.  But if you want a repeat performance of fall’s impressive bloom, pinch back flower buds until late June or early July.