Have you ever purchased a chrysanthemum (better known as mum) to decorate for fall, just because they’re beautiful, they scream fall to you and you couldn’t resist, just to get it home and have it looking pathetic in a couple of weeks? I’m cheap and that just feels like money down the drain to me. Join me as I share my Tips for Keeping Potted Mums Looking Great and getting the biggest bang for your buck.
Tips for Keeping Potted Mums Looking Great – When to Buy
First of all, let’s go shopping. Now this is the first rule of thumb in keeping potted mums looking great – don’t buy your mums too early. I know you folks are from all over the country, so it’s important to know when too early is. Look at an extended weather forecast. Mums really like temps in the 60s. I live in Minnesota – Zone 4b and it’s best here to wait until mid to late September or early October before purchasing mums. So this year, I’m totally guilty of breaking my first rule. I purchased my mums about a week and a half ago, when the weather was nice and cool, and I was feeling all cozy and ready for fall. Now this week, we have had several days in the mid to upper 80’s and my mums little buds are popping like crazy.
Tips for Keeping Potted Mums Looking Great – Shopping
Let’s pretend there’s a chill in the air and we have our sweatshirts on, and get this shopping trip under way. When I walk up to a gardening center and see this, it’s pure sensory overload! BUT, wait we don’t want to buy these mums.
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Some super cute fall decor items to go along with your potted mums:
And, some more beauties, but we don’t want to buy these either.
These are gorgeous, but they won’t be coming home with me.
So here’s my second tip for keeping mums looking great – pick out mums that have tight closed buds, like this next picture. I realize it’s not instant gratification, but in the long run it will be a better purchase. Now, these are the mums we want to buy.
Tips for Keeping Potted Mums Looking Great – Water
My number three tip for keeping mums looking great is to make sure they have sufficient water. All the tips are important, but this one is probably the most important. Mums like to be moist, so don’t let them dry out. Once you have your mums home, immediately check to see if they are moist, if not, give them a drink. Also, grab a saucer that you have laying around or an old plate and put that under the pot. These are the ones I use and they work perfect. The saucer will catch the water run off and help to keep the plant moist at the bottom where the roots will drink it up. Even if you’re going to plop the pot into a more attractive container, put a saucer under it. Another good watering tip is to water at the base of the plant, closest to the roots, very slowly. If it rains or if you notice there’s still water in the saucer the next day, dump it out so the mum doesn’t get to much water. Just make sure you feel the soil and make sure it’s moist every day.
Tips for Keeping Potted Mums Looking Great – Deadhead
Here’s my fourth tip for keeping mums looking great. As your mum continues to bloom, pinch off the blooms that are spent or fading and turning brown. For you non-gardeners, that’s called deadheading.
In closing, just a few more tips for keeping your mums looking great. If the weather forecast shows lots of sun and the temps moving to the upper 70s, consider moving your mums to a more shady spot. Also, lots of people will re-pot their mums into a bigger container with fresh potting mix. I’m too lazy to do this, but I’m thinking I might try this year on at least one plant to see if it makes a difference on how long the mum will last. Here’s a little collage of my mums (love yellow) that definitely won’t last long, but maybe I’ll sneak and buy some more.
When following all these tips for keeping potted mums looking great, I’ve had mums last for 8 weeks or more. Do you have any other tips that you practice other than the ones I’ve listed?
Thanks so much for stopping by Gingham Gardens today. I so appreciate your visits and your kind comments. Feel free to hang out for awhile and check out a few of my fun Fall Decor posts – Fall Porch Decor and Fall Outdoor Decor Ideas. Stay tuned for more Fall Gardening posts.
Happy gardening for a little while longer,
Joanna
p.s. Please help me out by pinning these pictures. Simply hover in the upper left-hand corner and click the “pin” icon. There are some more pins at the bottom of the page. Thanks!!!!
p.p.s. Follow Gingham Gardens on Pinterest for lots of great gardening ideas and tons of gardener’s eye candy.
A few more fun Fall Decor items from Amazon:
I am sharing at these parties:
To Grandma’s House We Go
Feathered Nest Friday
A Morning Cup of Joe
Sundays at Home
Silver Pennies Sundays
Dishing It & Digging It
The Scoop
Amaze Me Monday
Gardens Galore
Metamorphosis Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday
Pins to share:
I wish I had read this before purchasing this year’s mums. I am going to purchase more.
Ha ha, mums are cheap. I usually end up buying a few more later in the season. Thanks for stopping by.
Great tips!
Thanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
Blessings,
Cindy
Thanks for stopping by, Cindy.
I love me some mums! Thanks for all the great tips!
Thanks for stopping by, Debby Ray! I love me some mums, too!
I love fall. My favorite time of the year
God does know what He is doing He made me an October baby. FALL IS A GREAT CELEBRATION TIME FOR ME AND i love mums. Oh my gosh
I am getting some tomorrow after church. I can’t wait
But yes mine die in a week or so
Thank you so, so much for these tips. Does it matter how long in sun or shade if the temperature is right? Thank you and God bless you for sharing your expertise, Maribeth
Hi Maribeth, I’m so glad you stopped by! My daughter is an October baby too! Yes, Fall is a wonderful season. Mums do like the sun as long as it isn’t too hot. Good luck, happy birthday and have an awesome Fall enjoying God’s beautiful creation.
a little advice on buying MUMS….if want to keep for the next year planted in garden not get annuals (annuals only live this one year)
So true, Dorene. In my area it’s a bit difficult to find perennial mums. Most of the mums for sale are the annual ones. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
I ask the garden centers if their mum’s are perennial to our zone 4. I’m surprised by how many aren’t. I love them because honey bees love them ,🤗
Hi Linda, you are right it is difficult to find hardy mums. I’m not sure where you are located, but I was able to pick one up at a local nursery called Bachman’s. They had about a dozen. 🤷♀️
Great tip for potted mums, Joanna. It was 97 here on Saturday. So far, I haven’t bought a mum. Thanks for sharing at Gardens Galore!
Thanks for stopping by, Pam. It was in the 90s here for several days. Now we’re getting much needed rain and the temps are cooling down.
Wonderful tips! I always seem to kill mine before the chill in the air arrives.
Thanks Pamela for stopping by. Good luck with your mums this year.
Great tips, Joanna. But like you I broke the rules I usually follow last week. Even if you buy tight buds in my area you need two sets of mums to last. It has been 96 here the last week.
Usually, the stores drag getting them in because they realize keeping them are hard. I am in zone 8.
Hi Bonnie, I find it very difficult not to buy mums right after Labor Day. Last week I found some quart-sized mums for $1.25. I couldn’t resist. The lady several days temps have been in the upper 80s into lower 90s. That’s too hot for me. Good luck and happy gardening!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing with us at the To Grandma’s House we go link party!
Thank you for sharing these tips! I have not had the best luck with mums, and living in Montana, the season is pretty short. But I haven’t followed these tips, so maybe there is still hope!
Hi Cherryl, thanks for stopping by. Mums are one of the few flowers that will take a frost and that’s why they make such great fall flowers. Plus, they are sooo pretty. Just pick up a few and give them a try again and don’t forget to water. Good luck!
Beautiful!! I have not bought my Mums yet but will be doing so soon. Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Hi Debbie, our temps have cooled down a bit and I’m loving it. Thanks for stopping by and happy gardening.
I love this tip! While I love gardening, I am never lucky with mums and me thinks it was water. Simple but what a great tip!
Thanks for stopping by, Angie. I’m happy you enjoyed the tips on mums. Good luck?
Thank you so much for these great tips on picking mums! I would love to have some by my front door, although sadly it gets no sunlight there and I doubt it will cool off enough to go out and buy mums anytime soon. But I loved looking at your pictures, they’re such pretty flowers!
Hi Loni – thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Come back soon!
Good advice. That’s exactly how I buy mine and I bought mine 2 weeks ago. Good thing too is that mums do bloom a long time so they really seem like a good investment. I like setting them in different containers for a fun seasonal look. The rain has finally stopped and it’s only going to be around 65 today! Loveing it!
*loving 😊
Thanks, Liz! I love the cooler temps too. I still have lots I want to get done in the gardens. Happy gardening for a bit longer!
Hi Joanna,
I’m going to be featuring you at Sweet Inspiration on Friday!
Thanks a bunch, Florence.
Yup, you know your stuff girl! I’m always telling my friends not to buy the ones in full bloom. I just pinched some of my spent blooms off of my mums today. I’ve had them for a few weeks. Thanks for sharing your tips with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Oh, I’m so glad to have these tips about Mums! I really haven’t known that much about them, even though they’re here in Garden Centers every year. I live in Alabama, where it is hot and humid and in the 90’s even now. I didn’t know mums liked 60 degree weather, or don’t like direct sun, or to be moist, although I do try to deadhead. I’m going to be doing as you suggest from now on b/c yes, I confess, we bought one the other day. I’ve planted them in the ground before too, b/c I hate for the money I spent on it to end up on the curb like I see so many do, but they really get much too leggy, even though I pinch them off. Cheapskate me, usually doesn’t buy them at all, but I succumbed this year.
These are great tips! I think you get what you pay for too. I bought a gorgeous $3 mum that lasted a week. My $6 mums are still going strong!
So true, AnnMarie. Thanks for stopping by and come again soon!
That’s such good advice about not buying mums too early. Here in Texas it will be late October before we might hope to see the sixties, but the stores get mums much earlier. I’ve learned the hard way to wait! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!
Cecilia – today in Minnesota the high will be 90. That’s just crazy for this time of year. Patience pays off.
I live in the AZ desert and have had very good luck with mums. We (meaning my hubby) built some raised beds around some trees in our front yard a couple of years ago. He added some very rich top soil with fertilizer and also added auto-irrigation. Early last Fall, we planted several of the 4″ pots of mums that absolutely exploded in size and retained their beauty until late June when the flowers turned dark, but the plants stayed green for awhile longer. I’m not very good about gardening when it’s 115 degrees, so the plants stayed that way until recently. I started trimming the mums way down to the ground where there is new growth coming in like crazy. I think your tips are great, but I think you also have to learn what works in your part of the country….experiment a little bit.
Yes, Carol, you are correct. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.
Of all the flowers out there, chrysanthemums are probably my favorite Joanna. We’re very lucky here in South Africa. They’re one of those perennials that keep on giving and growing. They just survive on their own with a little bit off feeding and a dash of fertilizer for love. We cut ours down quiet a lot after they’ve flowered and they’ve become these gorgeous lush bushes of happy colors. Next time I go to the nursery I’ll keep your tip about looking for tight buds in mind. Sometimes I’m too impatient to see the flower
Thanks for stopping by, Michelle, all the way from South Africa. Come back soon!
I will, I love your posts Joanna 😉
SUCH great tips and none of these were ones I knew about — probably why ALL of the mums I buy . . . die a quick death. I have not bought any yet but I will definitely think about getting them later in the season and following your tips!
Lauren – thanks for stopping by. Good luck with your mums this year.
Thanks for stopping by, Lauren, and good luck with your mums.
thanks so much for the tips you shared. I love mums in the fall, so very pretty they are so colorful and help with the feeling of fall. I will be purchasing mine in a few days and thank you for sharing the tips I will find them very useful
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Angie, thanks for stopping by. Enjoy those mums!
Great advice! I love mums and appreciate the tips.
Donna, thanks for stopping by.
Good tips. I pick out the mums with them beingmo mostly closed too. I enjoy all the different colors that are offered- so much fun! I’ve got two plantersin front of my garage that I always replant with mums. We’ve been war here but I hear a cold snap is coming in this week.
Liz, thanks for stopping by.
Good advice as always!
Thank you for these tips.. II’ve had some luck saving mums by leaving them in the pots & storing them over winter. I stored them under an overhang against a south facing wall . I live zone 7 and this worked for me . I watered them very lightly 2 or 3 times until spring when I planted them in the ground.. One yellow one is in a small laundry tub & has been reblooming for five seasons.
I would love to be able to do that. I do have a few mums in the ground that are hardy in my zone 4. Thanks for stopping by.