A neighbor just gave me one of those small florist- type bright yellow chrysanthemums.
I was already thinking of doing a massive color bowl planting in a huge, huge, huge clay bowl I have on the patio.
What kind of care do mums need? And most of all, what keeps them blooming alot?
I'm thinking of doing the bronze mums mixed with the ruby ones.
The small gift one just got planted in a clay pot with butterflies on it. Cute, but not the huge display I want to do in the bowl.

Mums prefer full to partial sun and good drainage. They have shallow roots and need regular watering. They bloom best and longest in cool weather.

Mums are about the easiest plant to root from cuttings. I really expanded my mum collection from cuttings off of the ones I have.

Rooted in water?

Deb

It suprises me Mums grow in your warm climates.

I have spider mums blooming now, and the bronze arent far behind............We have long cold winters and they came back so pretty.

dodge..;o)

Four years ago, I was working at a Garden shop & Greenhouse and I was able to buy 50 tiny starter plants very cheaply, so I did! Of course, I ended up giving most of them away because I didn't have room to plant all of them. I had five different varities (10 of each) and this is what I found out from the all information provided me and from my experience.

The Chrysanthemums grew best when placed in a sunny location, and they needed to be planted in soil that provides good drainage (so I used pots with Pro-Mix). If they do not get adequate sunlight the plants tend to get taller and spindly and have weaker stems. They like to be feed with a complete fertilizer (e.g. 5-10-10 or 5-10-5) in the spring, so I used 5-10-5. I watered them when the soil got dry, especially in the summer when it was hot, but avoided watering them at night because of powdery mildew.

Chrysanthemums will make a bushier plant if you keep them pinched regularly until about the middle of June for those that are the early bloomers (August), late June for the September bloomers, and early July for the late bloomers (October); for our area (zone 5) I was told not to pinch them after July 4 (but I pinched some of them as late as mid-July without a problem) or they may not bloom before the first frost. The extreme hot summer temperatures like what we've experienced this summer may cause the blooming to be delayed.

I was told when planting the Chrysanthemums to allow plenty of space between the plants (usually about 18 - 24") and avoid overcrowding them, so they get plenty of air circulation because they are susceptible to powdery mildew. Mine were in pots so this wasn't an issue.

patches

Your correct ......

Are you going to put the potted ones out in the bed to winter over? You may be able to keep them in your unheated garage in pots????

Just thinking.

dodge

Dodge, this was four years ago and I did plant the ones I kept in the ground. I left them in the ground over the winter after mulching them well. They all survived the winter and came back every year, except last year because I dug them out in the spring and gave them to a friend so I could do something different with that bed, but I did take some starts and planted them in pots last year!

patches




Thank heavens, you had me worried!
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

All is well and ends well.
dodg

Sorry, Dodge!

Chrysanthemums are one of the easiest plants to grow! You can't hardly kill them and they are so easy to propagate! I love them! I'm just not wild about their smell!

Patches,

Guess we can get used to the littl stinkers..

dodge