Does anyone know how to care for mums? I have some I just put outside in pots. Every year they look great for about a month and then the blooms turn brown and they don't bloom again.

Do I pinch off the dead blooms to keep them blooming?

Thanks.

By Cat on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 03:43 pm:

I wish I knew! The kids got me two for mother's day, they looked great for about and month and then died! They looked like they were trying to come back, but never got to be much more than a little clump of green. Maybe Bea knows. Bea, are you out there??? (or someone! lol)

By Colette on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 04:03 pm:

You can plant hardy mums in the ground and they will come back the following year (usually). Deadhead them while they are blooming and then when they die back just cut them to about 3 inches above the ground and mulch them. To keep them from getting leggy next year you will need to keep pinching them back until about August and then let them grow.

By Vicki on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 04:53 pm:

Someone told me to cut them back to almost the ground right before July 4th and then they will bloom in late September instead of earlier. Does anyone know if this is true?? I haven't had the guts to try it yet, so I am always plucking buds to slow them down so they are start blooming around now. It would be so much easier to just cut them down once and be done with it!!

By Ilovetom on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 04:58 pm:

Colette! What does deadhead mean? Pinch off dead blooms?

Thank ya'll so so much.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 05:12 pm:

Yeap, deadheading is snapping off the dead blossoms! It keeps a annual flower blooming! I can keep my bachelor buttons looking nice, if I have time to stand out there, snapping off the dead ones. This summer was way too busy for that, though!

By Colette on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 05:22 pm:

Yes, cut them back until July/August and then you'll have blooms for Sept/October.

By Vicki on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 06:04 pm:

Colette~were you saying yes to me? LOL I can cut them to the ground right before July 4th and they will bloom about now??? I just don't want to kill them, so I want to be sure!! LOL

By Dawnk777 on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 06:49 pm:

Gary cut down my clematis earlier this summer, because it was just getting too big. It grew back and is blooming again!

By Ginny~moderator on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 06:52 pm:

Well, Vicki, not quite to the ground, but above the first couple of sets of leaves.

Deadheading is essential for annuals if you want them to keep blooming. I always used to deadhead the pansies, and when I had a couple of stone pots of pansies on my front steps, it was fun to give neighbor children who asked for a flower a pansy - which I knew would keep the pansies growing and blooming.

Mums, however, when treated as a perennial, have the same problem as all perennials. They have a specific blooming season and when they're done, they're done. You can postpone the blooming season with mums by keeping them from getting leggy earlier in the summer, but eventually they will be done. The trick with perennials is to plant some all-summer-blooming annuals in front of them, so when the perennials are done the annuals are still flowering in front of the green (finished blooming) background of the perennials. While you want to deadhead them, don't cut them too far back, as they need to build strength for the next year, and sunlight (photosynthesis) does that.

The more or less technical reason for deadheading annuals is that the whole purpose of a plant is to work towards reproduction - the flower is fertilized, wilts and dies back, and seed pods are formed for the next year. If you prevent seed pods, you either encourage the plant to keep blooming, or, in the case of annuals, let them use the season to build up strength for the next blooming season. So you should really deadhead all blooming plants.

Here are a couple of websites on mums. The first is probably the best:

http://doityourself.com/flowers/marvelousmums.htm


http://www.ag.fvsu.edu/html/publications/teletips/lawn%20and%20garden/flowers/530.htm

http://www.kingsmums.com/growinf_info.htm

By Vicki on Monday, September 26, 2005 - 07:07 pm:

Thanks so much Ginny!! Woo Hoo!! That will make it so much easier than always plucking off the buds!!