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leave mums in containers or transplant?

9 years ago

I have a long narrow strip of mulched soil between my garage wall and my walkway. During the summer I have my 20 gallon geopot containers with tomatoes growing here. Now that fall is approaching I am removing the tomatoes that are done and need to fill in this area so it doesn't look so empty. My plan is to buy potted mums and then either transplant them into my decorative plastic containers or plant them directly in the ground. Since this is only for the Fall season, is it better to just keep them in the containers or plant them in the ground? What would look better? I would pull them out of the ground as soon as the cold weather set in.

This is what the area looked like in early June:

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Comments (5)

debbiecz3
9 years ago
An idea is to pot them up and then plant them container and all in the soil either now or when your cold weather arrives. The idea is you can pull up the containers in the spring, grow in an out of the way place until next fall and do the switch with your tomatoes again next year. This is assuming your Mums are hardy to your area. If they are florist mums I'm not sure if they would be hardy to your zone or not being much more zone challenged myself!
gringo
9 years ago
I think there may be some varieties of mums that are fairly winter hardy these days. I'm uncertain if they were bred in Wisconsin, or wherever...
I used to have quite a nice collection of spider mums purchased through mail order from Kings mums, although I think this year, sadly they may have retired. One pot full disappeared, & I did manage to get some more, before it was too late. Maybe the Chrysanthemum Society offers some?
Here is a photo of one of mine from Kings, with a large flower, using the disbud technique. (btw I only pinch off small side buds, leaving the single uppermost bud, or possibly up to three & do not cut back, until after the show is well over with.)
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I can tell you that I planted 3 seeds per growing pod and instead of thining out I actually separated them and repotted some did not have the first set of true leaves yet and some had just the first set of true leaves. Now most have first set of leaves and some are starting their second set. I also over wintered 2 of my bhut plants and repotted in Feb 2011 which are the parent plants to my seedlings. Let's us know how it goes!
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My question is, is your garage insulated but unheated? If so then you could garage it until spring. Put it up on some wood blocks and remember to water it some every month. You can just put a shovel of snow on the top of the pot when you shovel but roses need water over the winter and since it's inside it won't get that naturally. If it's not insulated then it won't really be much protection. With the past two winters we've had I'm thinking planting would be better. Do it ASAP so it has as much time as possible to settle in before the ground freezes. Bury it deep to protect the crown as much as possible. Don't winter protect it too soon. You have to wait until it is completely dormant to put any kind of winter protection on it, There are two problems with covering them too soon. The first is that if it's still warm and the little critters haven't made their winter nests they'll find those leaves make a great nesting spot and your rose is a built in food source. I lost a few roses that way one year. The second problem is the purpose of covering is not to keep them warm but to keep them dormant in the spring when the temps are fluctuating a lot. You don't want them to come out of dormancy too soon and then get hit with a late killing frosts. The heavy mulching keeps the soil from thawing out and encouraging the rose to grow before it's time.
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gringo
9 years ago
I suppose that doesn't answer your question very well. Though Debbie has a rather good idea. Since the ones I grow aren't extremely hardy, I keep them potted & during severe winter spells, bring inside (don't have a cool garage to put them in, to overwinter, anymore.)
If you are simply using them like expensive annuals, then do as she suggested, with the benefit of maintain them easily, over winter stored in a garage & cutting back. Bring out, after it warms up & you should have the same ones , to use all over again. Unless, as I mentioned, you locate the hardy variety & place them between your tomato plants & see if they survive the winter, as it appears it may be the southern exposure, against the house, which helps the chances of survival, a great deal
My3dogs ME zone 5A
9 years ago
I'm in zone 5 in Maine, but don't have the patience to over-winter the annual mums they sell potted around here. They'd never look as good as when I buy them in the fall.

Since you're asking if they'd look better in your decorative pots or planted, do you have photos of your pots? I assume that everything you show for your tomatoes comes down, so you have the blank garage wall and the mulched strip? If your pots are on the taller side, they may added some desired height. If you're buying the large potted ones ( I see everything here from quart to bushel size!) you wouldn't needed the added height.
Sheila Hogan-Green
3 years ago
I have one that I bought. I bought 3 but one is looking really bad. Should I get it into a bigger

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