Here’s what to avoid so your chrysanthemums will last as long as possible and have the prettiest blooms.
Use them forautumn displays on your porch, along with dried cornstalks, gourds, and pumpkins.
But by the following spring, your plants may be reduced to clumps of dead stems.
Credit:BHG / Kelli Jo Emanuel
In general,garden mums are pretty easy to growonce you know the following common mistakes to avoid.
Amy Enfield is a live goods senior scientist for the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.
BHG / Kelli Jo Emanuel
1.
Credit:BHG / Kelli Jo Emanuel
They’re perennials inUSDA Zones 5 to 9.
“Unlike garden mums, these aremeant to grow insideas indoor potted plants and are not cold hardy.”
Otherwise, give them plenty of sun for plenty of blooms.
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But don’t fertilize once your mums form flower buds, says Enfield.
Fall mums will benefit from a high-phosphorus fertilizer that promotes root development.
However, plants will continue to require water until the ground freezes."
Credit: William N. Hopkins
Do the same for potted indoor mums.
Fall mums use their leaves to turn sunlight into energy for forming roots.
Wait until the following spring to do additional pruning or until the stems die back to the ground.
Credit: Carson Downing
Then,cut the mum stems downto about an inch above the ground before new growth appears.
“Pinching to remove flower buds helps encourage the plant to branch and become fuller,” Enfield says.
Not Improving Drainage
Mums won’t thrive in soil that drains poorly and stays too soggy.
That’s especially true in cold-winter areas, says Enfield.
Although garden mums are consideredhardy to Zone 5, breeders have developedfall mumswith big mounds of showy flowers.
This has resulted, she says, in plants that may not be as cold-hardy as in the past.
So, if your fall-planted mums don’t come back like true perennials, treat them as annuals.
Yes, according to the ASPCA, mums are toxic to pets.
Keep pets away from them to avoid illness.
Pet Care and Animal Poison Control.
