Yep, exactly, Woody. I can't really see them growing in the ground anywhere in my gardens. So potsize? They are about 15inches tall but still only 4-5inches wide so far, so how often should I pinch them out? How big is the 'footprint' of a spray type? I am such a terrible plant stuffer and they look a bit lonely...but failing to allow enough space is my biggest and most consistent error.

They did only cost about $3 each (2 rooted cuttings) so I am not too fussed about their survival but ya know, a new plant...

Top advice - exactly what I was looking for.

I had to look up 'spray type' too:-) As far a I can tell, that just means a 'normal' mum. Those are sold around here in late summer in 6-12" pots for fall color displays. If I plant those in one of our big (~20" wide) plastic driveway pots and overwinter it in the garage, the next year it will have completely filled the pot! Some 'old-fashioned' mums in the ground have spread into a very large clump that seems to want to spread indefinitely. I'm not sure if that answers your 'footprint' question.... Re the pinching - the general guidance is to pinch them 3 times by the 4th of July and then leave them be to set buds and flower. Specifically, what I usually do is cut them down by half in early May, by half again in earlyJune and, depending on how fast they've grown, how sturdy the stems are and how tall you want them to be, by a third to a half again in the first week of July.

I've got tired of the mums in pots and didn't bother with them last year. I have three mums in the ground. I'm on my iPad at the moment so don't have pictures to post. If you'd find pictures useful, let me know and I can post some later.

Excellent. In my novice mauling, they have already had a couple of pinches so 1 more next week should do the trick then. I think I will stick them near the (paler) salvias (which will still be going strong). Mind, I am seeing that Empress of China flowers in November! I am usually not gardening (as such - a bit of greenhouse pottering)...so will see if it is enough to coax me off the sofa.

Unless I'm starting cuttings for someone, I just use my hedge clippers 2 times stopping by late June. You don't have to take time to pinch them.

Yes, my 'pinching' is done with secateurs - or whatever cutting tool is handy...! This is not a delicate procedure :-)

campanula, I no longer have any hardy mums in the ground. I love them but they took up too much valuable all sun real estate. I have...3? in pots that have had no issue overwintering.

And with them in containers it was easy finding perfect full sun locations.

(Invariably I don't pinch off enough and so have do do it multiple times. They seem very forgiving of their haircuts.)

they root ridiculously easily .. couple days in water will get you nub roots.. plant in a pot ...

when you cut back is sort of dependent on how big you want them at the end ... though if they get too tall.. the center can flop open

i wanted shorter ones.. so when they got to 6 inches.. i cut to 3.. when they got to 9 i cut back to 6 ... etc ...until.. in my MI .. around sept. i quit cutting ... so i got the october blaze i wanted ... which loosely translated into late june.. late july.. and late august ....

there are dormant buds at each leaf node.. so when you truncated the top ... it forces them to trigger ... and thats what gives you the little ball of love in fall ..

ALL mum that are sold in early fall.. for display .. most likely started as your have .... you arent rewriting history here ...

lets see if this works ... yup.. lots of potted single plants ... ok.. the pumpkin pots down a bit.. cracked me up ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fall+mum+potted&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=1&ia=images

ken

Grief...they're a bit...lumpy. I have a bit of a thing for tall perennials (must be because I am a 5foot shortarse myself)...and these round pots are not really doing it for me...but I do have a pinky/purple part of the garden where I can keep the pots (especially now that the old tulips pots are emptied and the bulbs lined out at the allotment.

In a tiny garden like my home one, moving stuff about is the largest part of gardening. Just this weekend, I have had to move all the lilies into place (and I have a lot for a minuscule 32square metre garden)...plus the summer annuals (cleome, lime nicotiana, zinnia) for later summer. It is more exhausting than the allotment, which is 20x bigger...because I can ignore the less than stellar part of the allotment whereas there is no hiding from gaps and fails in a minigarden. Salvias have always been my main potted plant - I have a dozen or so...so I am interested in looking at the potential of 'mums to keep the garden going. Fuschias are also appearing, courtesy of DiL.

Pumpkin pots are NEVER going to be featured though.

Camps, I am scared of you! What has prompted this extreme change from the person who had such...contempt?...for these plants, and now is starting threads and inquiring about the intricacies of maintaining them? :-)

Ah...being a gardener means never saying no...

and having the attention span of a toddler on a sugar spree.