Garden

[Miss Brenda Starr]

To the OP: I would like to kindly remind you that there's no such thing as a stupid question. Asking questions is how we learn things.

Although my son's 7th grade math teacher once remarked about the no stupid questions thing: ""Whoever said that never taught 7th graders."" I though that was pretty funny but some of the more uptight parents were indignant that anyone dared to disparage their little monsters.

[KippyK3]

I would like to post a comment in response to mums not surviving the winter. Sure they can. It gets very cold where I am. In fact, we had several weeks of the deep freeze that gripped the nation last winter. I was afraid my mums wouldn't survive. They did. They are huge right now and are about to bloom. They are planted in the ground, all along the south side of my house. Some are mature, large plants and some are newer, smaller plants. Sorry, I don't know what variety they all are. Here is what I do in the fall, when they are done blooming, and have turned brown. Cut them down, but leave the dead stems about 3" long, do not cut them off. Then cover the entire plant/area with leaves from the yard or mulch well. Just mound it up, over the stems. The stems are hollow and get moisture down in them which will freeze and kill the entire plant/roots. Leave them covered until spring/warm weather. When you see the green buds under the brown leaves, gently rake away the winter cover. Try this. Maybe it will work for you too. (We used to do this when we lived up north, and it worked there, too)

[terrier3]

You can do either.

Mums are usually bought for fall color, not to grow as a perennial. If that is the case, I would keep them in their plastic pots.

They don't bloom until the fall, so I would imagine you'll be re-planting the pots for the spring/summer.

After the mums are finished, you can always try to plant them directly in the soil and see how they do next year. Some of the varieties that come from the South aren't hardy & won't survive, but there are also hardy types that will come back.

[JustJazzmom]

On 9/16/2014 terrier3 said:

You can do either.

Mums are usually bought for fall color, not to grow as a perennial. If that is the case, I would keep them in their plastic pots.

They don't bloom until the fall, so I would imagine you'll be re-planting the pots for the spring/summer.

After the mums are finished, you can always try to plant them directly in the soil and see how they do next year. Some of the varieties that come from the South aren't hardy & won't survive, but there are also hardy types that will come back.

Its a roll of the dice to get mums to survive after they are finished and then transplanted into the ground. They just do not have enough time to establish an adequate root system before the ground freezes for winter. If you could, try and take cuttings from the mums and start them indoors and then when spring arrives, transplant them directly into the ground. They will at least have the entire spring and summer to establish in the ground and will bloom for you in the fall.

[Miss Brenda Starr]

On 9/16/2014 JustJazzmom said:

On 9/16/2014 terrier3 said:

You can do either.

Mums are usually bought for fall color, not to grow as a perennial. If that is the case, I would keep them in their plastic pots.

They don't bloom until the fall, so I would imagine you'll be re-planting the pots for the spring/summer.

After the mums are finished, you can always try to plant them directly in the soil and see how they do next year. Some of the varieties that come from the South aren't hardy & won't survive, but there are also hardy types that will come back.

Its a roll of the dice to get mums to survive after they are finished and then transplanted into the ground. They just do not have enough time to establish an adequate root system before the ground freezes for winter. If you could, try and take cuttings from the mums and start them indoors and then when spring arrives, transplant them directly into the ground. They will at least have the entire spring and summer to establish in the ground and will bloom for you in the fall.

What kind of cuttings do you take? How do you handle them so that they re-root? In water? In rooting medium?...or?

[JustJazzmom]

On 9/17/2014 Miss Brenda Starr said:

On 9/16/2014 JustJazzmom said:

On 9/16/2014 terrier3 said:

You can do either.

Mums are usually bought for fall color, not to grow as a perennial. If that is the case, I would keep them in their plastic pots.

They don't bloom until the fall, so I would imagine you'll be re-planting the pots for the spring/summer.

After the mums are finished, you can always try to plant them directly in the soil and see how they do next year. Some of the varieties that come from the South aren't hardy & won't survive, but there are also hardy types that will come back.

Its a roll of the dice to get mums to survive after they are finished and then transplanted into the ground. They just do not have enough time to establish an adequate root system before the ground freezes for winter. If you could, try and take cuttings from the mums and start them indoors and then when spring arrives, transplant them directly into the ground. They will at least have the entire spring and summer to establish in the ground and will bloom for you in the fall.

What kind of cuttings do you take? How do you handle them so that they re-root? In water? In rooting medium?...or?

I would take soft wood cuttings and use rooting hormone and then set into rooting medium. There are many online descriptions on how to root cuttings.

[Anglophilly]

8 inch pots are pretty small and mums in the ground can get very big. Treat the mums as an annual & leave in the plastic pot. Just make sure the pots have a drainage hole. If not, just put a few stones in the pretty pot and set the plastic on top.

Gardening, like cooking, is learned from trial and error. I look at the expense of buying annuals as buying flowers from a florist. Much less $ and everyone gets to enjoy them.

Thanks for making the world prettier!