All About Mums!

It’s about the season for showy, colorful mums to grace the porches of our neighborhoods. These lovely pops of color welcome fall with open arms and bright flowers, and we do too. There are a few tricks to getting your chrysanthemums to last beautifully through our fall season, and we are here to spill the cider. 

Shopping for the perfect mums

Two words here: delayed gratification. Choose mums with tighter buds (you may not even be able to tell the color of the flowers) for the longest blooms. Because you’re purchasing these mums before they flower, you’ll get to experience the full bloom time of your mum at home, and they will last further into the season. 

Temperature requirements

Mums thrive in cooler fall temps where the high for the day is in the 60’s. If we get warm bursts of 70+ degree days, you can move your mum to a shadier spot to minimize the heat from the afternoon sun. 

Mums are frost hardy, so the first couple light frosts we get won’t phase these troopers. 

Sun requirements

Chrysanthemums are a full sun plant, so they will do best in areas that receive 6+ hours of sunlight a day. 

Water requirements

The most important piece of information to know is these plants are thirsty. They get a bit dramatic if you let the soil dry out, so water fully and water often. 

We suggest placing a saucer under your mum pot to help them soak up the runoff H2O. Bottom watering directly into the saucer or directly at the base of the plant keeps the flowers and foliage dry, prolonging their beauty and minimizing the possibility of fungal disease.

Water if the soil is dry to the touch. Your mums should never be left overnight in sitting water. 

Extra care

1. Deadheading
• Pinch spent blooms that are turning brown or crispy. You can do this by pinching back to the connecting stem. This will not promote rebloom for these plants but will make your plant look tidier.
2. Repotting
• Some find that repotting their mums into larger pots with some compost helps their mums last weeks longer than those kept in growers pots. 
3. Spacing
• We love a bunched mum combo, but to minimize the chance of disease, make sure there is adequate airflow between each plant. 

Stop into our Diamond location and ask Courtney for mum advice specific to you.