Just as April showers bring May flowers, summer sun brings fall mums! More formally known as chrysanthemums, these late-season blooms coincide with the return of pumpkin picking, fall fruits, and all the fantastic foliage of the season. Each autumn, the vibrant clusters of orange, white, red, and even purple flowers in hanging baskets and porch step planters are a sight for sore eyes!
Whether or not you consider yourself a plant mom, everyone can plant mums by following this foolproof guide. These fall flowers practically grow themselves: they're inexpensive, easy to grow, and pop up when most of the other plants in your garden are starting to wilt for the season. To make things even better, mums don't exactly appeal to the woodland creatures of your yard—like deer and chipmunks—because of the strong smell of their foliage. What's more? They bloom continuously for weeks and may even return the following year!
Of course, before you get started, you'll want to consider the different types of mums there are to plant. Garden mums, also known as hardy mums, will thrive in USDA hardiness zones 4 to 9. Florist mums, which are the ones you typically see as gift plants in the grocery store, are only hardy from zones 7 to 9. To figure out which mums plant you're buying, all you have to do is check the tag! Know your hardiness zone in advance so you can make sure your plants will thrive in your garden.
Now that you're ready to plant, read on to figure out everything you need to know about how to care for mums.
How to Plant Mums
When to Plant
Technically mums are perennials, but they're also grown as annuals. A lot depends on when you plant them! If you want your mums to come back next year, you need to plant them in the spring like other perennials. This way, they can get their root systems established before the ground freezes. Just bear in mind that you'll typically need to order spring-planted mums online because many local nurseries don't carry mums in the spring. If you plant in the fall, mums will be putting all their energy into blooming, not into making roots.
Where to Plant
Before getting started, make sure to plant mums in full sun. Mums also thrive in rich, well-drained soil, so add some sort of organic material such as compost to your soil when you plant them.
- Dig a hole about twice as wide as the pot and just as deep as the root ball. Then, plant them in the hole just as any other flower.
- Give them plenty of water after planting. They don’t need to be sopping wet, but they will wilt if you’re having hot, dry late summer days.
- Once they start blooming, you don’t have to snip off dead blooms, called "deadheading," because that won’t extend the flowering time.
How to Care for Mums
Water
Water mums often—at least every other day or when the top few inches of soil feel dry (you can test the soil by sticking half of your finger into it). When the weather is hot in peak summer or if the mums have more blooms, you may need to water them more frequently. However, it's important not to overwater, as this can lead to root rot.
Sun
Mums thrive in full sun as long as they're given enough water, so make sure they get at least six hours of direct light. With too little sunlight, mums will produce fewer flowers with weaker blooms.
Winterizing
In winter hardy areas, mums should be fine during the winter without any special measures. If not, one of the keys to winterizing mums is mulching. After the first frost, pack mulch around the plants to keep the soil temperature consistent. Mulching stops the roots from freezing and thawing repeatedly during the colder months.
Pruning
If you plant your mums in the spring (or if they returned from last year), you can pinch back the top few inches of buds a few times to encourage bushiness. Doing this means it'll produce more branches, which ultimately means more flowers! But you'll want to do it before mid-July, or you’ll end up removing the flower buds. However, this step is totally optional. It’s fine to let them sprawl a bit and grow freeform if you don’t mind a more cottage garden look.
But, whether you decide to pinch or not, don’t expect your mums to look like the dense mounds you might've purchased at a nursery. Those plants were treated with growth regulators to achieve their rounded shapes.