My garden mums are still green and healthy eventhough the flowers are brown. Am wondering if I can cut them all the way back in order to use the bed to plant pansies,etc. I need their space but certainly don't want to do anything that would keep them from coming back next year as they did this year.
Garden mums
I don't think it matters, although if your weather stays warm for a while, you MIGHT get another flush on the Mums. I cut mine back under the same conditions... green and healthy with brown blooms... Actually, I cut off ALL this year's growth, and noticed new growth for next year just beginning. I should have nice mums next year, IF I remember to pinch the blooms 3 times, LOL.
Hey, Sjbshipp, I can't believe it. Someone that is close to me. I live about 40 miles west of Savannah. About the mums. I cut mine back in October and they are blooming again. I have one in an old washtub that has bloomed all summer. You can cut them on back but don't be surprised if you see new growth real soon. Normally mine bloom spring and fall. I plant Marigolds between them in summer and pansies in the fall.
Hey Sjbshipp, if you haven't cut them back, don't. We leave the foliage on the mums all winter and remove in the spring. Yoder Bros, the breeders of Prophets Mums recommends that you leave the stems on all winter and remove in the spring with a yard rake. They seem to survive better when one does that.
I agree with Cala don't cut them back until spring. The ones I cut back in the fall don't return but if I leave them they come back .
Thanks for the info.Unfortunately, I had already cut them back Cala and Mystic. Maybe being this far south will make a difference
Thanks for the response Cala and Mystic. Unfortunately, I have already cut them back and put in the pansies. Hopefully, they will come back next fall, but they had just taken over the bed and I wanted winter color.