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The Kitchen Table

Questions about Mums

13 years ago

My grandson gave me a beauiful pot of mums for my birthday. We live in a cold part of Canada but I would like to be able to save these to plant outdoors next year. How would I go about this?

Should I keep them inside , and keep watering and in light through the winter, or should I put them, when they quit flowering, in the cool room, which is dark, but does not freeze?

I'm certainly open to suggestions.

Thanks

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Comments (10)

nicole__
13 years ago
Those look like a hot house mum to me. Not suitable for cold climates. Maybe others will chime in....
jel48
13 years ago
I found several sites with information about overwintering mums. I put one of the links below.

I've always understood that there are winter hardy mums and non winter hardy mums. If he included it in the pot of mums, there should be a tag that tells what is the lowest temperatures your mums can handle. I know that some of the ones I bought this year are hardy to -10 to -20 F. In my part of the country, that's pretty marginal. However, I will plant them outdoors and hope for the best. We get a very heavy (lake effect) snow cover all winter, and that gives all marginal outdoor plants a better chance to survive.
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no.. its not too late.. if the are ONLY budded ... trace down the stem ... and where a leaf attaches to the stem.. you will see tiny buds.. real tiny ... cut all the way back.. until .. three to 5 are left on the plant ... and i will guess ... that will make them 3 to 5 inches tall .. it will be severe ... [and do a different number on each plant.. experiment] in another month.. do the same thing.. NOT ALL THE WAY BACK ... but to a few buds on the new growth only ... and do the same thing in august ... so you will trigger 3 to 5 new stems.. and on the second cut.. will encourage that bunch to add 3 to 5 new stems on each stem.. now having up to 25 .. and then if you do it again.. over 100 .. and that is how you generate that big ball of mum ... [the math gets a little fuzzy there .. lol but i am sure you get the idea] then after the august pinch ... leave them be.. to rebud.. and bloom in sept/oct ... they will NOT be on the same schedule.. as when bigboxstore offers them .. wait until somebody confirms such ... and i am presuming. they are still buds.. rather than already open ... a pic would sure help ... or.. the easy way.. just enjoy the show.. and mark the calender for next year ... in Mi.. i seem to recall doing it once in june/july/ and august.. like many things this spring.. these have bolted.. and are way ahead of schedule.. ken PS: mums root INCREDIBLY EASILY ... so stick the cuttings.. sans buds 4 inch cuttings].. into damp media.. and they will probably root in a week .. and those might even bloom by fall .. if you can nurse them thru the heat of summer as new rootings ...
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It's a toss up as to if hardy mums planted in the fall will make it through winter. I don't see a zone for you. eric oh is right about planting mums in the spring to give them plenty of time to root in and a better chance to survive the winter. But, since you have them, why not plant them, minus the pot and try your luck? Nothing to lose but your time. And don't cut them down before winter. Leaving foliage and even dead flowers is supposed to help mums stay alive until spring. Then you can cut the dead stuff off when you see new green leaves coming up from the base. Good luck and let us know how things turned out. Linda
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I think a lot will depend on its flowering condition :-)) Mums sold for fall color tend to be very heavily budded - best to purchase them in bud rather than bloom as the flowers tend to go over rapidly. But the development of the buds into flowers is certainly stimulated by sunlight. Excessive shade may very well stunt or abort the flowering. So you've got this choice to make - a heavily budded plant that may not fully develop its flowering potential in that much shade or one already into its flowering cycle that may not produce for as long as you like (IME, a ready-to-go mum lasts about 2-3 weeks max in bloom).
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IMO, the mums at the stores are best used for a quick pop of color and then discarded. They are not the "hardy" garden mums from our grandmothers' gardens. For me, they last about 4 weeks before they look really tired. I have never seen any mum that blooms straight through spring to fall. You generally get a few weeks out of them either in spring or fall. I have carried them over to a second year, but they don't look nearly as nice. Terri
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peoniesandposies
13 years ago
That's a beautiful mum your son got you.

It looks like a non-hardy mum, so your best course would be to enjoy it this fall in your house, and water it normally. After the flowers have all faded, cut back on watering and put it some where it gets light but is in a cooler portion of your house. Then in spring cut it way back and resume normal watering and temperatures. When summer comes set the pot out on your patio. You might want to pinch back the tips a couple of times during the summer to help it become nice and bushy (stop pinching about the beginning of July).
bigfoot_liz
13 years ago
it does look like a florist type mum...thou there are a few southern varieties w/ similar blooms but they would not be hardy above zone 8. you can always try to get it thru the winter as a houseplant and see if it makes it. ~ liz
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
13 years ago
I second what p and p said above. Hopefully you will be able to overwinter it and enjoy it next year too.

Sue
bulldinkie
13 years ago
A lot of the mums are in hot house.You need to decide do you want to decorate with it or plant it so you get it year after year.The sooner you get it in the ground the beter off youll be.It needs a few weeks to send out shoots before ground freezes.So many people get them sit on porch then November want to plant, too late theyll freeze.Id get some starter to put on it when you plant to get roots going quicker.Then May trim back.
socks
13 years ago
I like what P&P said as well. Make sure it has good drainage. If it has one of those decorative foil wrappers around it, take it off later and just let it sit in a draining dish. Pretty flowers! Nice grandson! My outdoor mums are getting ready to bloom.
trishaw
13 years ago
Even here in SC overwintering Mums is a pain in the tush. They will want to bloom in the spring if you don't keep them pinched back. If they do bloom in the spring you won't get the fall bloom. They have to be kept cut back in order to keep the tight bushiness to them they have now. I have given up trying to keep them as a garden plant and just treat them as an annual now.

Trish
ont_gal
13 years ago
Ivamae...I too have the same mums as you have right now

I am quite a bit north of you..waaay north-east,so winter here is dastardly at best

Mine are all in beautiful bloom right now,and before the month is over(Oct)I will dig holes and put them in the ground...thats it...if they are meant to make it next year,and they "should" they'll over winter in the ground just fine.

Odds are,our "mums" wil come back as daisies.
sue_va
13 years ago
About this time four years ago I bought three small mums at Home Depot. I didn't know what kind they were, just wanted something for Fall.

I potted them all outside in a really big, deep pot. I haven't done anything special to them, just watered and fed them. They are in full bloom now, which is the fourth year for them. They are about the color of yours. I just lucked out, getting a hardy variety.

Good luck with yours.

Sue

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