Mums

We bought mums to put out around the camper in Sept and the bunnies ate them.

They are dumb temporary decorations. Bees don't like them unless they are confused and then they land and leave. They get covered in leaves. They don't come back reliably the next year. If you leave them in pots and it gets too cold, they will die or mold up if you water them too much. Mums are dumb and useless and so hybridized they should be made of plastic by now. They even smell bad. Did I say I don't like mums?

My nursery told me to buy Asters instead of mums....so I did and they have been thriving for several years. I won't buy mums they are only a momentary satisfaction, they look so nice, but just don't last.

I have a profusion of mums at my front door. I put mine out in September and change them out once before Thanksgiving. I have never had any that survived the entire season.

Make sure you're buying hardy mums, not florist mums. Hardy mums love cooler weather; they're sold by nurseries and garden stores. Florist mums are usually sold at grocery stores and - duh - by florists. Hardy mums are perennial and will come back next year; plant them in full sun. Of course, planting this late in the year can be dicey if your winters are harsh; plant them in a protected area. If they return in the Spring, you can move them to a better area.

On 10/10/2014 ValuSkr said:

Make sure you're buying hardy mums, not florist mums. Hardy mums love cooler weather; they're sold by nurseries and garden stores. Florist mums are usually sold at grocery stores and - duh - by florists. Hardy mums are perennial and will come back next year; plant them in full sun. Of course, planting this late in the year can be dicey if your winters are harsh; plant them in a protected area. If they return in the Spring, you can move them to a better area.

Nope. Never. Not one of them will come back, and I'm talking about every kind of mum you can imagine from nurseries (I live near so many nurseries as so many people do). None of them come back. They are marked hardy mums too. As in hardy har har I suppose. I will never buy them again.

On 10/10/2014 momtodogs said:

My nursery told me to buy Asters instead of mums....so I did and they have been thriving for several years. I won't buy mums they are only a momentary satisfaction, they look so nice, but just don't last.

Now these do come back!

On 10/10/2014 ical said:

On 10/10/2014 ValuSkr said:

Make sure you're buying hardy mums, not florist mums. Hardy mums love cooler weather; they're sold by nurseries and garden stores. Florist mums are usually sold at grocery stores and - duh - by florists. Hardy mums are perennial and will come back next year; plant them in full sun. Of course, planting this late in the year can be dicey if your winters are harsh; plant them in a protected area. If they return in the Spring, you can move them to a better area.

Nope. Never. Not one of them will come back, and I'm talking about every kind of mum you can imagine from nurseries (I live near so many nurseries as so many people do). None of them come back. They are marked hardy mums too. As in hardy har har I suppose. I will never buy them again.

I've had the same three mums by my driveway for at least four years and they are huge.