well if you leave out pertinent facts.. then you get shotgun answers.. lol ... you would save me a lot of typing if you did give all the facts up front .. lol ... i hope you have one cutting in a glass of water in the house.. just to prove me wrong ... its got time to root and be stuck in the ground by mid sept ... and.. as with conifers.. mail order will get you what you want ... i am still trying to recall that name of that mum seller.. they offer ... back in the mid 90'2 ... like 500 varieties.. FOR TWO BUCKS EACH ... they were just single stemmed rootings as i said.. but at two bucks.. i think i bought about 25 varieties.. it only took a few years.. to be down to 10 or so.. truly z5 hardy plants.. but it was neat .. because they were much different than the usual bigboxstore offerings... it was a short family name .. lee's???? ... .. whatever.. odds of someone popping in and reminding me are low ... ken

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).

Most mums ARE perennial regardless of where you live. The problems with them not wintering over is that they are typically sold in fall (bloom season!!) and so do not have sufficient time to establish a good supporting root system before cold weather arrives. Planting earlier in the season will help but hard to find then. I would winter them over the same way you winter over any other non-hardy plant. Wait until flowers die and the plant goes through a good frost, cut everything back to just above ground level and store in a cold area (but above freezing). Light is not a requirement but cold temps (around 40F - not much higher or lower) and some soil moisture is. Then next spring you can plant them out in the garden and they should be fully established enough to winter over inground next season without concern.

Wow, look at those rocks. I believe someone had a little help getting those into place! Rouge interesting yours are earlier this year. I was thinking the same for my own late chrysanthemum and now it makes a little more sense that the warm weather had something to do with it. I'll take it!