Can i plant mums

Plants set out in spring should get a fertilizer once or twice a month until cooler weather sets in. Don't fertilize plants set out in fall as annuals, but the plants you hope to overwinter should get high-phosphorus fertilizer to stimulate root growth. Prepare mums for winter after the first hard frost. Mulch up to 4 inches with straw or shredded hardwood around the plants. Pinch off dead blooms to clean up the plant, but leave branches intact.

Mums have a better chance of surviving if you wait to prune old stems until spring. Although garden mums are often called hardy mums, they may not survive the winter if drainage is poor or if you live in an extremely cold climate. If your mums survive the winter, you'll see new growth developing around the base of the plant in early spring. As soon as the weather warms, pull away mulch to allow new shoots to pop up. The old, dead growth from last year can be clipped away.

If nothing develops at the base of the plant, it's a sign that the plant did not survive the winter. Mums grown as perennials need to be divided every couple of years. Divide perennials in the spring after the last hard frost and after you see new growth starting. Dig up the plant in one piece and separate outer pieces from the center with a clean and sharp spade or large garden knife. Replant the outer portions into a rejuvenated bed, and discard the original center of the plant.

Three to five vigorous shoots are enough to make a showy clump. Once new shoots start to develop, add a slow-release granular flower fertilizer. When they're about 6 inches tall, pinch back the tops of each stem by inches or so. This promotes compact, bushy growth later on. The key to those full, rounded domes of blooms that you associate with mums is pinching to create more branching and keep plants compact. Don't hold back; just a few minutes here and there will reward you with a thick, solid-looking plant.

If you bought large, full plants in the fall, they've already been pinched and are ready for planting. Young spring plants will need pinching for maximum bloom and best plant shape.

Start pinching as soon as you see a good flush of flower buds. To pinch a plant, remove the growing tip of a stem by nipping it between your thumb and forefinger. Pinch about half of the tender new growth at the top of the shoot; choose some stems with buds and some without. Repeat the process with every inches of growth about every weeks until early July.

Stopping then ensures you will get good bud formation and blooms in fall. Each pinched stem will divide into two new stems. As a general rule, deer won't eat chrysanthemums.

But it's really up to the deer. Like people, individual deer have specific tastes. Most deer may hate chrysanthemums, but there may be an odd one or two that like them. When you're trying to find deer- or rabbit-resistant plants , you'll need to learn largely by trial and error. Though deer-resistant plant lists are always a great place to start.

If you think mums are limited to the candy-colored mounded plants often sold in front of grocery stores, think again. There are dozens of gorgeous varieties of chrysanthemums, each with its own unique beauty. Here are a few mum types that would look great in any showy front yard display.

Also known as florist mums, these chrysanthemums have long, tightly overlapping petals. They can be either incurve where petals curve up and in toward the flower center or reflex where petals curve out and down, away from the flower center. Also known as button mums, these fluffy mums produce masses of small, petal-packed blooms in an abundance of colors.

You may often mistake single and semidouble mums for daisies because they look so similar. These mums have one single , or two to three semidouble outer flower petals, growing very close together from the center disk. These types of mums grow a stunning 1 to 3 feet tall, perfect for growing along a garden fence.

The name truly fits this type of mum, which sprouts beautiful spoon-shaped petals. These flowers only grow about 4 inches in diameter, making it a petite mum to add to your garden that won't take up too much space. Quilled mums resemble the single daisy type, only with the tubular petals. Here's what to avoid so your chrysanthemums will last as long as possible and have the prettiest blooms.

Gorgeous mums in shades of red, yellow, orange, purple, and white pop up everywhere in the fall. I like to use them for autumn displays on my porch , along with dried cornstalks, gourds, and pumpkins. After the flowers finally finish blooming, sometimes as late as November in my warm Southern climate, I often try to plant them in my garden because most mums are actually perennials that survive the winter.

But by the following spring, my plants are usually reduced to clumps of dead stems. After checking in with a few mum-growing pros, I realized I was planting my mums too late.

In fact, garden mums are fairly easy to grow , once you know the following common mistakes to avoid. Amy Enfield, a horticulturist for Miracle-Gro, says garden mums should be planted outdoors by late summer or early fall, so the roots have time to form before the soil freezes.

Also known as hardy or Belgian mums, garden mums are sold in garden centers and nurseries, and they're perennials in USDA Zones 5 to 9.

But even when they're planted at the right time, they need a few other things, like excellent drainage. Enfield adds, "There's no guarantee they will survive the winter, particularly the further north you live in the U.

Florist mums, the kind sold in the houseplant section of your local grocery store, aren't meant to transplant at all, she explains.

Cynthia Drumgool, a potted plants and mums manager with Ball Horticultural, says garden mums need full sun or at least partial sun. One exception: in very hot climates, mums benefit from a little shade during the hottest part of the day. Otherwise, give them plenty of sun for plenty of blooms.

In spring, you can give your plants fertilizer with nitrogen when they're starting to grow leaves and branches. Since the roots of this plant are shallow, planting in the spring gives them enough time for growing a suitable root network. A more robust root system is required to survive the winter months and giving them a head start is preferred.

If they are kept in pots or baskets over the winter, they can be moved indoors during heavy snowfall to avoid damage and maintain steady growth throughout the dead of winter. When selecting your variety of mums, choose mum bulbs that are already budding to know what the flowers will look like.

Each plant should receive no fewer than six hours of sunlight daily to thrive. This helps the flowers to grow strong, while lower light levels make flowers spindly. Humus-rich soil is recommended.

If your soil has high levels of clay, then mix in organic plant matter. Peat, composted leaves, manure or straw can help to improve the aeration and drainage. Adequate drainage is the best defense against frost conditions. To stimulate good growth, fertilize the mums after planting them.

They are not heavy feeders, so dilute the formula before applying. The best planting location is a spot that gets southern- or southeastern-facing exposure.

It's also good to have a foundation or wall to offer support. You can also stake the flowers if you want, although as previously mentioned, many cultivars do not require staking.

Pinching off apical meristems, or branch tips, can allow for continuous flower production and a more compact growth habit. To clean up the plant without hurting the branches, you can cut off the old blossoms. Wait until the spring to cut off plant stems. Stocky plants are less likely to bend or break their limbs due to excess flower production, and each point where the branch end is pinched or incised off with scissors will pull flowering hormones to that part of the plant for more vigorous production of additional flowers.

If they are planted in October and are already flowering, pinching should be avoided as they are beginning to go into their stage of dormancy. As a rule of thumb, mums should be given at least three months between their last pinch and the beginning of flowering.

This means that pinching them any time after late July is not recommended. As with other flowering plants, this pinching is a means of stimulating excessive flower growth.