You need to choose the correct cultivar for hardiness in your area. Unfortunately, we just can't force something to live that won't thrive in our zone, lol.

How about Sheffield Pink chrysanthemum? It's a hardy daisy shaped mum.
Rhumba is a sort of antique apricot hardy mum
There is also a more golden mum called Bolero

and there are more,
here's a link:
http://www.comnur.com/dendranthema_autumn_crescendo_tm.htm

Another great place to look for cold hardy mums is Bluestone. I think one trick is to make sure you have great drainage where your mums are planted.

GGG

Another way to keep iffy mums over the winter is to lift the clumps, shake some of the old soil off cut them back and store the clumps/stools in flats or boxes with some new mix. Put them in a place where it's cold but won't freeze giving them a dribble of water once in awhile. Plant them back out when the weather is suitable or, give the flats warmth and light late in the season, take cuttings and dispose of the old stools. This is the way a lot of exhibition mums are stored through the winter, cuttings are taken and the old stools discarded. I don't see why this woundn't work for garden varieties as well. A

I would add that it helps to purchase your plants in the spring so that they are well established before winter sets in.

You've all been so helpful. GGG I think you are onto something re: the varieties that are hardier than others. I've always maintained that "yellowish" flowers seem to thrive the easiest in most types of flowers. In fact, the one mum that does survive yearly is a goldy, yellowish color.

after midnight, I have taken cuttings in the spring & they overwintered for me only one yr., but I've not heard of doing it in the house in the winter, so thanks.

Pattioh, the only one I've heard from in my zone so far, so I would certainly pay attention to your advice. This may sound silly, but do garden centers sell mums in the spring? Seems only time I've seen them are in the fall? Are they the traditional fall mums that we are so used to or are they more like a daisy mum?

I don't grow mums much, because they either spread more than I want them to, or don't live long. I have some in the bed I tend at church that a woman insisted on giving me. I cut them back a few times in the summer so they will bloom in the fall, and not earlier. These are the spreaders, so I pull them out when they overstep where I want them to go. (They are yellow, btw.)

A few years ago, I bought one of the newer kinds that looked like a daisy. It did not overwinter for me. A few days ago, I was looking for other things, but ended up seeing a pink garden mum called, "Debonair" that I decided to try. I chose the one that had the most unopened flowers buds. They said I can plant it, and it will keep the blooms. I did not know spring is better for planting mums.

The tag gave instructions on overwintering. It said there is no need to prune before winter, and to mulch after the ground freezes. In spring, it says to pinch off new growth when 3 inches long, and pinch as needed until mid-July. It also says to fertilize often during growing season, but I don't fertilize often, so we'll see what happens. When I looked it up online, one of the sites I read said the lowest temperature these kind can take is 20 degrees. It gets colder than that here.

I hope you find some you like and they grow for you.

Sue

Carol5, I have an abundance of some kind of heirloom mums here at the cottage we just bought in Stockbridge (Ingham county), they have supposedly been here as long as the house (80 years?)

I plan on taking some of them out as there are simply too many..you are welcome to some if you like?

I haven't seen them bloom yet, but the seller of the home told us they are burgundy.

Stretford 5, you are a sweety for offering, and I would welcome them with open arms. I will email you for your instructions. Ohhhh & burgundy yet. Sounds wonderful.

Sue, your instructions on those new mums make sense to me. It almost sounds like overwintering roses. In fact they make those strange looking white styrofoam cones for roses, I wonder if they would work for mums? Let me know, If you remember, if they survive for you. Worth a try.

I live in Connecticut. Some of my mums overwinter and return every year. I have one (orange) that has survived from when my mother tended the gardens years ago. It sits in an old wine cask in the front lawn. It crowded everything else out and is rather ungainly now, almost hedge like and flops over but I leave it be because it puts on such a good show. I'm not much for pinching because it terrifies me and I'd probably damage the plant.

Last year I bought eight at HD. Each were listed as "hardy mums" and I planted them in urns. four were rust colour, three were yellow, and one was red. The red and two yellows have returned. The rest weren't that hardy I guess.

I do remember early in this spring seeing mums at a garden center and cringing at the thought of Autumn. But as a rule I've only seen them for sale in late Summer/early Autumn. WalMart seems to jump their season "gun" often enough, putting mums out in early August, at least around here.

Mihai

I've always heard that spring planting is helpful. Bluestone is one of the only places I've seen them offered in the spring. I've been tempted to try some of those.
All mine have been planted in the fall.
I have one called "Patricia" returning for its 7th year. Some of the others I've tried have returned for a year or two and then petered out.

Carol, the only mums that have lasted through the winters for me have been yellow. I have bought some very nice mums in purple, pink, and rust that have looked great for exactly one fall, and have never returned. I don't know what varieties I have tried. I just bought whatever the local folks were selling, and it didn't seem to make any difference whether I got them from a high-class place or the grocery store. Yellows survived. On the other hand, I've never done anything to help them through the winter either, so it's probably my own fault. I just trusted that if they were being sold in Michigan and the tag said hardy mums, it meant they were indeed hardy, not hardy-if-you-baby-them. My mistake, no doubt.

ThinMan