Community Chat

[ValuSkr]

I haven't had good luck with them coming back either (SE PA), but admittedly I don't have much sun.

Now I just don't buy them.  I love them, and love seeing them on other people's porches and gardens.  But I can't bear to just throw them in the trash when they're done.

[catter70]

I buy 1 pot a year and leave them in the pot and when they are done I offer to my sister who plants them. If she doesn't want them, I put them in the trash. My ground is like cement and I can't dig it.

[homedecor1]

I put in pots as I was ambitious when I first moved here planted them all in the front beds..lasted 1 week.  The heat here must have killed them or I overwatered them.  After that expense, I never did it again🥹

I now just buy a nice potted one for my porch.

[skatting44]

I buy big pots for my front door then plant them in the ground  .

[moonandthestars]

@Biftu  I'm in the northeast too.  The mums I plant, for the most part,  have been returning each year.  They add nice off season color.  In general initially I usually do a mixture of plant in the ground and planters.  If the ones in the planters do well, I will try to plant them also towards the end of the season. 

[Sooner]

We may put one in a pot on the front porch.  Our last house had 11 garden beds (one feet long), an 80 x 15 terraced garden and lots of flowers and herbs and we have been there done that!

Moved to a more low maintenance yard, and because of weather and lack of beds are glad to be without at this point.

[HLP]

---

@RedTop wrote:

I'm in WV and leave them in their pots.  We get to enjoy their color for September and most of October before they get frozen, and go out in the garbage.  

---

My Sons neighbors decorate with them in pots. Last year they pulled them and threw them over the hill, my son brought them to me and they are  growing and ready to bloom. Don't throw them out plant them in the ground.  PS  I live in WV too. N. Panhandle.

[Grade1Teach]

I am on Long Island and I have done both.

When I planted hardy mums into the ground, they would come back, but they were just too much to care for.  They grow back and get buds in July (around here), but they have to be cut back a few inches because you don't want a premature bloom.  When you cut them back in July, they will get buds again in September and bloom the way they are supposed to. 

I did that for two years and I wasn't happy.  I had these bushy plants with no flowers during the summer months and then mums of all different sizes during the fall months.  Some were tremendous and I just didn't care for the way they looked.  I pulled them out Year 2.

It's back to mums in pots for me!

[Imaoldhippie]

@Biftu ...............The reason your mums never come back is because they are not "hardy", meaning they are not perennials.  

If you want perennial mums buy them as "hardy".  You usually have to buy them at a real greenhouse garden shop and not at Walmart, grocery, Lowes, etc.  Those are for short term decoration.

[ScrapHappy]

I've kept them in pots and placed them on the steps leading to my house/porch and planted them too.  I have 2 very large planters on either side of my steps leading to the house.  When we were at Costco, they had HUGE mums for $16.  Gorgeous.  I never got them until this year because mums are always out in my area in September and it's still so hot here that they never did well for me.  But I/m taking a chance and got two and so far so good.  We pull them out when season is over.