Many people think mums are a quick one and done plant. Here for a quick seasonal burst of color and then pushed aside for cyclamen and pansies in a few weeks. I’ve got a few tips to think about when picking out your mums to time their blooms when you want the flowers really popping, and to also remind you that mums are perennials, so they don’t have to be tossed into the compost bin once their blooms begin to fade. With a little care, you can keep your mums growing as healthy foliage plants that will offer up their beautiful blooms once again next year.
Choosing Mums: Bud or Blooms?
Whether to choose mums in full bloom or mums full of tight buds just depends on when you want the flowers and how long you want the flowers. Tight buds will generally push your flowering back 2 weeks or a little more. If you want flowers to be popping around Halloween or Thanksgiving, count back a couple of weeks from those dates and buy tightly budded plants then. Of course if you need an instant flash of fall color at this moment, full blooming plants can’t be beat.
I will remind you that buying blooming mums when it is still pretty hot outside generally means that the flowers will fade faster. The heat just does that to them. Cooler weather will prolong the life of the flowers.
Care of Mums Winter through Spring
When the blooms on your mums lose their vibrancy and begin to fade, it’s a sign that the mums are finishing up their blooming cycle. You can stretch out the life of flowers by snipping off spent blooms and hoping for a resurgence of the flower buds underneath to replace them. It’s possible that you might get a second flush of blooms with this technique, though it most likely won’t be as full as the peak flush of blooms you experienced when your mums first bloomed.
Once you’re finished deadheading your mums for the season, Wait for the first frost (not hard freeze) and then cut mums down to where they are about 1” – 2” above the soil. This will make it easy to pile mulch on top of the plant for winter protection.
If your mums are in pots, make plans to overwinter the pots in your garage. After the first frost (not hard freeze), cut back plants as indicated above. Cover the mums with 3” of mulch, cover the pot with an old sheet and move into a cool garage. Once the weather warms again in spring, remove the sheet and mulch layers and move the pot outside in the sunshine.
If your mums have been growing in the landscape, after the first frost (not hard freeze), cut plants down as indicated above and cover the plants with 3”- 4” of mulch to protect them. Keep mums moist throughout the winter. Once the threat of frost has passed, remove the mulch layers and cut back any dead stems.
If you’ve been growing mums in your landscape, it is recommended to divide mums at least every other year. Mums need space to grow to their full potential in order to get their biggest show of blooms. Once the danger of frost has passed, you can dig up the clumps and separate plants by breaking mums apart where the new shoots are sticking up. Replant immediately offering about 18” of space between new transplants. Plant mums in well-prepared garden soil (well-draining, amended with compost and peat), in an area that receives full to part sun (at least 6 hours).
Once mums have resurged in spring and begin to actively grow, you can begin a “pinching back” routine. “Pinching back” is a pruning technique that encourages multiple branches and results in a fuller plant with a big bloom in fall. When the new growth has reached about 6” tall, pinch back about an inch of growth from the top of each stem. Repeat this process every 5” of growth and stop pinching mums in July.
Mums could possibly surprise your by producing blooms in spring. Go ahead and enjoy the blooms on your mums for a brief spring moment, but by early summer you’ll need to cut off any buds that are produced so that the mums are forced into growing into a vegetative state until fall.
Though we tend to think of mums at one particular time of the year, remember that they are perennials. If you’ve found a favorite color of fall mums this year, why not take a little care to make sure you get to have it next year too?
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
Related to your comment about cover crops, what are some good cover crops for flowerbeds that are used for vegetable plants?
I didn’t grow fall vegetables this year so my flowerbeds are empty and yes weeds are growing.
One of my favorite cover crops is Crimson Clover, but we have many to try and choose from. Common Buckwheat, Elbon Rye, Dutch White Clover, Hairy Vetch, are some others to take a look at. I’m attaching my blog on cover crops if you haven’t seen it yet for more info. Cover Crops
My mums r in pots how do I keep the. Outside over winter
They won’t be cold hardy in pots. I’m not sure where you live, but you are getting close to the cut off date for planting perennials in fall before winter arrives. You might just want to keep them in a protected area inside and plan on planting them in the ground early spring. If you are trying to keep them in pots outside, you will need to cover them in the event of a freeze with plant protection, like N-Sulate/Plankets or multiple layers of old sheets and/or blankets. Again, I am not sure where you live so don’t know how cold your winters get.
I live in north east. I have 3 mums that aren’t doing well. They were fine for about a month then starting to turn brown. Too much watering? Too cold nights? Too much sun?
The foliage or the flowers turning brown? Once flowers are spent, they tend to turn brown and you can deadhead them to possibly get another flush of blooms. If all around they look wilted and brown, it is most likely a watering issue; either too much or too little. Feel soil often to know if you need to water or hold off. Insert finger to 2nd knuckle and feel for moisture. If soil sticks to your finger, skip a watering session, if it flakes and falls off, water.
Can you cover mums to protect them from freezing in the fall if they are still in heavy bloom and uncover once it warms up again.
Absolutely you can. Just make sure you always use cloth to cover, not plastic. When temps are above 50, they can be uncovered.
I’m in Upstate NY. I either have to bring my big mum inside and put it under a light or put it in shed (mulch and sheet). There is no heat in the shed at all. It gets pretty cold in there. It gets into negative temps here regularly. Will the mum survive in the shed or should I bring it inside? Last year I had it inside under a lamp and it grew immensely and flowered twice. Went outside for spring, summer and fall. Thanks.
Negative temps will damage them, especially as it is in a pot and would be stored in a shed with no heat, possibly for a prolonged period of time. I would do what you did last year. Sounds like that worked great!
What is the recommended temperature range for storing potted mums in winter?
Hi Tracy,
Mums can take a light frost. It’s when they are exposed to temps in the 28°F range that things can get a little dicey. Personally, I bring them in when a freeze is predicted (32°F or colder) because potted mums are more susceptible to freeze damage than those planted in the ground. My unheated garage in San Antonio has been a fine place to store them through our regular winters.
Do you still water when they’re in the garage during winter or just ignore completely?
You would still need to water them, although they will need much less water over the winter than they do during spring/summer/fall.
I Live in Wisconsin where the temperature gets really cold. I cut my potted hardy mum Down and put it in our attached garage. I read I am supposed to cover it with a sheet? Should I keep it watered? Things freeze in our garage. Do I have hope ?
Yes, you should keep it watered though it will need much less water than spring through fall. Wisconsin gets much colder than here in San Antonio, so if things normally freeze in your garage, it will be a struggle keeping them going if you don’t take extra precautions to protect them through prolonged freeze periods.
Thank you so much for that wonderful explanation , I just never knew I could do that with mums … they are just at the right time to prune and cover for the winter .. wish me luck
Best of luck to you Grace!
We live in west texas. My mums did fine for a few years, but the last few they grow so long they fall over and they don’t produce very many blooms. I do cut them back in the fall?
Try pruning them back again in mid to late June (before July), and offer fertilizer and a good watering. This should prevent them from getting too leggy, and also ready to burst out some blooms for fall.
I just received a mum for Thanksgiving. We are already in a hard freeze here. Should I remove it from the florist plastic pot and pot in a large pot? I am enjoying the flowers indoors-how long before I should cut back and move to garage? The pot I have is huge and no place to keep it indoors and I plan to put it in the ground come spring.
Enjoy the flowers as long as you can. You may even try shearing them back to see if you can get a second flush of blooms before they stop. If you are going to put it in the garage from the house, there is no specific timeframe.
Hi! I found this very helpful post! Thank you! I have questions, though. In your article it says (for potted) to prune them back to an inch or two, cover with 3″ of mulch, and then a sheet. If they are in a full pot of soil, there isn’t 3″ space!!
1. Why would you cover them with mulch if they are protected indoors in garage that doesn’t get below 40 degrees?
2. Why would you cover the mulched pot with a sheet if it is already mulched?
3. Do they have to be kept in the dark (my garage has windows and is used quite a bit…attached to house and other plants are under lights).
4. Do you water them at all, or like some dormant plants allow to dry down?
Hi Norm,
The mulch and sheet are just another layer of protection. Potted plants are generally not as hardy as those planted in the ground. Depending on where you live, some garages can be almost as cold as outside, and if there are unusual, extreme temperatures, it could become too cold.
They do not have to be kept in the dark. And thanks for the watering question, I’ll have to add that in. Watering once every two to three weeks should be good, just enough to not let the roots completely dry out.
Thank you!
You bet!