You're in a bit warmer zone so maybe you might get lucky... But potted 'mums are generally not hardy. You need the truly perennial ones. Do not cut the foliage down in the fall - leave it to provide additional winter protection. In the spring delay removing the old foliage until you see some new foliage at the base (if it hasn't appeared by mid-May, give up on it). It is important to cut 'mums back several times to keep them short and bushy. Stop cutting them back after the first week of July to let them set flowers. If you can't find perennial 'mums, I've had some luck overwintering the potted ones in BIG pots in the garage.

I have one that did, with lots of leaf mulch. I think it got bigger, too. There is hope. :)

I always end up buying mums every fall for containers. I have three varieties that I bought because they were winter hardy that are planted in the ground that are my dependable core mums, but every fall after I've used potted mums in my containers, I plant them in the ground, just in case they will winter over. I've been pleasantly surprised, that three have wintered over for me over the years and I still have them in my garden. It's hit or miss in my experience. I would agree with using a lot of leaf mulch around the plant, once the ground has frozen and keep watering them until the ground does freeze.

NEVER .. EVER.. put grass clippings ON TOP of anything live ...

too wet...

too heavy ...

anaerobic as it rots ..... it doesnt allow air thru it...

IF... it is winter hardy .... and there is no way to tell ... then it does NOT need to be protected .. in the sense of putting a blanket of anything over the top ...

mulch covers the soil... moderating temperature fluctuations.. keeping the soil moist... and not allowing the sun to warm the soil.. in the deep of winter ...

you are on the right track ... but sorta for the wrong reasons ... as per above...

i want to know what that vent is.. and what it will do in winter ...

a heat source on top of what is supposed to be a dormant plant.. will not be good ...

where are you .. z6 means little...

and note that leaf mulch.. is not mulch like you might buy in a bag ...

ken

I think it's a bit of a crapshoot with the potted mums. I always plant them, without any winter protection and then see what comes back. So far I have found the rust-colored varieties to be most hardy. Most of the time yellows don't a come back for me and the burgundy wither away after a couple years.

Then again, I don't plant anything in the garden that requires extra care in the winter. You might have good luck with them if mulched, plus you're a zone warmer.

Interesting Thyme2dig.

Have planted many "fall mums" in gardens, in early fall, where we live (high ground: zone 5a) and only a very few survived the winter. The only ones that ever naturalized were more or less light rust coloured.

Perhaps this colour is close to that of a more robust ancestral plant.

Same may go for the greenhouse polyantha-type primula they sell here in January. A number of these do survive and do naturalize, when planted out after the ground has thawed. It seems, however, that only white and blue ones will, never red or those with fancy colour combinations.

I got 2 perrnial mums today I have no clue what that vent is I will post pictures of my new mums soon any advice on taking cuttings of this mum

The vent is for air circulation it helps toxins not build up or something but it dosent emit enough heat to mess with the mums dormancy cycle (i think) there was a Lilly doing fine there before I moved it and it never had a problem

This post was edited by michael1846 on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 12:37

but the lily died to the ground.. so any warmth.. coming out of the vent in winter.. would be irrelevant ....

the single real trick to things wintering over .... yes gal... i said the single one .... lol ...

is to get the plant dormant.. and keep them dormant ...

anything.. that makes them go in and out of dormancy.. during winter.. is a problem ... much more so.. in the great white north .... [not sure where you are in z6]

so if you get some weird mid winter thaw.. things on top of the soil.. or very shallow rooted like mum .... can come out of dormancy.. during the day.. and be back in the teens at night.. once or twice.. the plant usually can deal with it ... but too many times.. and the plant dies ...

the same with the vent ... if it is feeding warmer air.. from where ever.. it MIGHT interfere with the plant holding dormancy ... its simply a variable.. to consider.. how wouldl i know ....

anyway... i once had a mail order place.. that sent rooted sprigs for a buck or two each..

each spring i would buy 50 ... and the following spring.. 50 more.. because 48 of them didnt winter over in my z5 ...

one would think.. after a few years... i would have built up a collection of plants that were hardy.. but no.. i didn't .... and i was buying the ones that were supposed to be hardy ....

the only real way to get hardy ones.. is to knock on doors.. and ask for cuttings.. of ones you see in the area .... those are the only.. for sure.... ones that are winter hardy in your area ...

ken

We will see the vent as u can see is high enough from the ground that I don't think it will interfere with the dormancy because hot air rises even so I think I will be fine an another note will my new mums be far enough away from the vent to survive if it does interfere with the dormancy Again are the other 2 far enough away

That may actually be a foundation vent. Do you have a crawl space? If so, nothung is (likely) to blow directly out of it. I have one like that near my hydrangeas.

I have no idea I'll look into the vent today

As Ken mentioned, I would be leery of that vent. If it does emit warm air over the winter, it MIGHT be an issue. But as others have mentioned, the mums as a whole can be a bit of 'crap shoot'.

Quite a few years ago (at least 10) I planted an assortment of mums -- a couple yellow flowered, a couple dark purple, and a couple rust-red -- obtained from Lowes for some fall color. I was blithely ignorant of the fact they might not survive. If I am recalling correctly, all overwintered fine that first winter. The rust-red flowered ones were the first to die off. Don't remember if they both died over their second winter or if one survived only to die in winter 3. The purples did just fine but the yellows began to "shrink". By winter 5 or 6, the yellows were gone completely. The purples have continued to come back year after year and have been divided several times.

In "the old days" lol, I had much better luck overwintering potted mums. Almost every one I planted survived and throve for several years.

It's only been the last 6 to 8 or so years that I've had problems. I can't help but wonder if it is because back then, they were sold in September. Now the supermarkets have them in the end of June. Actually, I find it's getting harder and harder to find mums that will last through October and into November because they are all bloomed out by September.

I still plant most of them, but never with much hope of survival.

Dee

Mammoth Mums are quite hardy and have survived my zone 4 winters until I got tired of them and gave them away. Do not cut them back in the fall, the stems help to protect the crown over winter. Also, it's a bit late to tell you this now, but planting mums in the spring improves the survival rate.