Although many people—at least those who live in regions that experience colorful, fall foliage—say that autumn is their favorite season, there are plenty who are sad to see summer fade away. If you belong to the latter camp, you can easily cheer yourself up and freshen your garden’s look by adding some chrysanthemum plants for long-lasting seasonal color. Mums, as they’re commonly known, revive the garden with a bright splash of life while the summer bloomers are in a steady decline.
Mums, as they’re commonly known, prefer the cooler air of fall, and they don’t mind the shorter spans of sunlight. As hardy as they are pretty, they shrug off mild frost and will keep your porch, window boxes, and flower beds looking good right up until you’re ready to switch over to Christmas or winter decorations. And that doesn’t have to be the end of the story; with just a little bit of care, your mums will return next year to give you spring color. They’re so easy to grow that even self-labeled “black thumbs” will succeed with the help of sun, water, and fair to good soil that is well drained.
Caring for Chrysanthemums
Since mums aren’t fussy, you can put them anywhere they’ll receive a few hours of sun and they’ll be happy. Keep a closer eye, though, on the warm days of Indian summer, as these plants do have shallow roots, meaning they can dry out more readily than other things in your garden. That said, these mainstays of the autumn landscape do a fine job resisting disease and insects, making them a low-maintenance plant that’s a joy to grow.
For the biggest bang of blooms, give your mums a commercial fertilizer that specifically promotes flowering (a high-phosphorous formula). If you do want them to return in the spring, plant them in the ground as far ahead of the first frost as possible, when the days are still warm and the plants are at their peak. Treat them to some rich compost, and mulch them before winter sets in. Once the mums’ foliage has died back, cut the plants close to the ground and cover them fully with straw if your winters are especially harsh. If you get snow, feel free to shovel plenty on top of the mums’ mulch to keep the ground around them consistently frozen, as you otherwise may lose your plants to frost heaves.
It’s important to note that you must buy garden mums, as opposed to florist or exhibition mums, for perennial blooming. Garden mums are much hardier and they require a shorter cycle until they bloom, whereas the florist mums are more easily killed by cold—which often happens before they reach their fall blooming point.
When spring comes, check the mum plants for new growth, and remove the mulch when danger of a hard freeze has past (remember—they’ll be able to withstand a little frost). Feed them with a general-purpose fertilizer, and pinch back the growth to maintain a bushy, globe shape; otherwise, the plants will become leggy. Discontinue this practice before the first of July, as pinching after then will interfere with the fall blooming. Mums are a bit quirky in that they may not bloom if they’re exposed to nighttime light, even from a streetlamp or front porch. Try to plant them away from sources of overnight illumination if you want them to bloom in the garden next fall.
Something for Everyone
With a full range of hues from white to yellow to orange to deep red and everywhere in between, mums are not only perfectly colored for autumn decorating, they’re also ready to complement anybody’s existing color scheme. Even the flowers come in an array of shapes and petal styles, with blooms that resemble spiders, buttons, pincushions, anemones, daisies, and even spiny chinchillas. A mass planting of one color in several different petal types can be quite dramatic, but most people don’t want to limit themselves to just one color when there’s such a perfect palette available for decorating in the harvest season.
Pair mums with their fall-flowering partner, asters, and arrange them with corn stalks, pumpkins and gourds, colorful Indian corn, and other traditional decorations of autumn. Set a large, potted mum at either end of your classic wooden Adirondack chairs, or let them flank your front door or porch stairs. For an even prettier effect, place the mum plant inside a decorative basket or barrel in between your Adirondack chairs. Let autumn be a time of inspiration for the artist within you, as your creativity dictates how you visually celebrate this rich and beloved season.
