Hi Alice,

If you really wanted to, you could still pinch the garden mums once yet, but if theyre starting to form buds, I probably wouldnÂt unless you want to try to delay the blooming. I decided to not pinch mine at all this year for the first time to see if theyÂll bloom early enough that I donÂt wind up running out every evening to cover them to protect them from the frost in fall. That gets old! TheyÂre looking good now (no buds yet), but if they wind up getting so tall that they flop all over the place, IÂll probably pinch at least once next year in early spring again. (Besides keeping them a little bit shorter, if they're pinched once or twice, you get more flowers!)

The ÂHillside Pink SheffieldÂs is different from the garden mums, and that one doesnÂt get pinched at all. If the one you have was from one of the swaps last year, it still has another year to "grow up," but when it does itÂll wind up being 3' tall by 3' or more across. And it will bloom so late that you very well might need to cover it a few nites to protect it. And it WILL spread out by runnersÂbut theyÂll be just below the surface so theyÂre easy to pull out all the way back to the parent plant if theyÂre spreading more than you want them to.

WeÂll be looking for you at the Fall Swap,
Skybird

Alice? Does anyone remember an Alice?

Could she be that person who would believe as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast? Or not?

Steve's digits
It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward.

Hmmm...Skybird, now I, too, have a mum question!

I never thought to think if they would keep over winter up here. Am I going to have to dig it up and bring it inside? Or, should I put a wire tomato rack around it and pack it in mulch?

...worry, worry...

And, I still have to come out and pick up my other mum!! Silly me...

J.

Hey Digit, at least you memory works. Don't knock it. I feel like my brain is mush...

As I was driving the dog to class this evening I was thinking about how disorganized I was this spring and how behind I fell, and I thought - I need to create a calendar in the winter with stuff to do planned out for every week. And then I thought "I bet that's exactly what Digit does, as he has the industrial sized gardens". He never forgets to do some crucial garden tasks (like pinching back mums, or getting seeds in at the proper time).

Dee, I remember you having the Sheffields at the swap, but I actually got mine from Bluestone. I'm amazed at the thought they'll be 3' x 3'. Yikes! Going to have to move those.

On the subject of Bluestone, I bought a lot of stuff from them last year, and I have to say I'm really pleased with everything but the Coreopsis - just sitting there with yellow leaves, a "Wild Thing" Salvia and foxgloves (each had 1 plant that didn't make it. As a note to myself, I must check their guarantee and see if I can get replacements.

Alice

No worry, worry, girl! They should be fine out there! Are they going to be in a place where theyll probably be covered with snow all winter? Even better if they willand from what youve described this past winter, it sounds like EVERYTHING out there is covered with snow! Even if theyre not, they should still be fine. I recommend cutting them all the way down when theyre done bloomingor after they freezewhichever comes first, but some people think its better to leave the foliage on all winter. I cut mine down! I recommend NOT mulching with anything that would prevent good air circulation when theres no snow, but if youd feel better protecting them somehow, cut a few fresh pine boughs and lay them lightly over the cut down mums. That will help collect and keep snow around them. Otherwise just wait till spring to welcome them back!

Heres the Sheffields, Alice! Click on this one and then you can arrow forward for a whole bunch more pics! It will DEFINITELY get BIG!

Gotta go! Im working on my schedule to go back to workfinally!
Soon to be Skybird again!

I got one quill-type mum plant from Skybird at the spring swap. I pinched it back before planting, but now I'm seeing that the bunnies are keeping it pinched back for me. I guess it's time to make a batch of pepper spray. I wanted to get my Japanese fern before they notice it as well.

Okay, can I ask a mum question too?

Last spring, I planted 6 mums in a circle around a Physocarpus 'Coppertina'. They all looked pretty good in the fall. This year, one of them is way larger than the rest, and one is just barely there. I did move them out a little this spring, to give the shrub more space, but as far as I could tell I didn't disturb any roots in the move. So why are some doing so much better than others? Is there anything I can do to help the puny ones along?

See the one on the bottom left ... it's pathetic.

Bonnie

I cant help much with that one, Bonnie! Mine seem to vary somewhat each year too, but since mine are all in widely varying degrees of clay, Ive pretty much just attributed it to that. And mine are just in different places here and there, and not in any sort of a symmetrical pattern, so it doesnt really matter if they all look different.

A couple suggestions that might help a little bit. Mums like to be fed, and are not xeric in any sense of the word. I dont think theres any way in the whole wide world that youre going to get them looking even close to the same this year, but I recommend you give them a really good feeding. I recommend a double strength, water soluble, 20/20/20and water them thoroughly with it a couple times, a week apart. (Ive said this before, but Ill repeat it here, I dont like Miracle Grow! I know some people swear by it, but I see it in the same light as I do their potting soilits different every time and you never know for sure what youre getting. Just my opinion! If you can find it, I recommend Jacks All Purpose Fertilizer, but if you cant find that, I recommend pretty much any brand except MG where you can get a 20/20/20 water soluble.) But while that might help them overall, it still probably wont do anything to "even them out." The little ones will get biggerand the big ones will get biggerbut it might just give them all a nice boost. And then I strongly recommend you do the "hose on a trickle and leave it lay at the base of each plant for 20 minutes" to be sure each one of them gets a really, really good, deep wateringand see what effect it has on them.

I dont remember actually looking at your soil when I was out there, but it sure looks pretty good in the picture! Just looking at them, Id be inclined to say dig up the big ones, divide them in half, and replant them in the various locations, but if theyve already been transplanted once this year, I dont think thats a very good idea! So I think for this year just keep feeding them regularly and be sure theyre being watered DEEPLY, and let them do their own thing, and decide what youd like to do next spring. If you try the "pattern" thing again next year and it still doesnt work, my best suggestion would be to do the little circle with something that tends to grow more "evenly" and stick the mums in here and there in other places in the garden where the individual plants wont be so easily compared with each other. Just thought of something! Are they all the same variety? When my parents had the display gardens in the fall each year, there were always some varieties that were big and bushy and nice and others that were smaller and just not as robust lookingand there were always a few that looked like total dudsand they were usually out for the following year! Testing varieties was a major reason for even having the display gardens. So if you have more than one variety out there, that might help explain it!

You could try tip pinching all of themtaking considerably more off of the taller one, but while that might help even out the height, it would still make each one come back fuller, so it still wouldnt help even out the actual size of the plants.

Not much help here this time! I guess my best recommendation would be to feed and deep water and let them do their own thing to see what happens this year and adjust your plans next year if its just not working for you.

Whatever happens with the mums, your overall garden looks so good, its not really gonna matter!
Skybird

Hi Skybird, thanks for the response! You are right about some varieties being stronger than others. I alternated copper colored ones with reddish bronze colored. The three larger ones are all the bronze ones, so the copper ones must not be as vigorous. I really liked the color combination, and can't think of anything else that would have similar colored flowers in the fall. Here is a photo from the fall, and even though the plants are small you can get an idea of the look I was going for.

{{gwi:271014}}

I've never fertilized anything in the garden, but that bed is new, and I added a LOT of compost when I dug it up. I sure don't think it could be a lack of water though, since that bed is in the middle of the lawn, it gets irrigated with enough water to keep the thirsty Kentucky Bluegrass alive. The only kind of fertilizers I have around are the soybean meal I use on the lawn, and some fish emulsion and bone meal I bought for the veggie garden. Would any of that work for the mums? If they require too much babying, I'm pretty sure I'll rip them out and find something else that works. Maybe they'll be like my peas, and start growing out of fear of certain death, LOL!

Bonnie