Spider mum propagation ??

I live in zone 5 and planted about 12 different spider mums this summer. Now that winter is coming on I am wondering if these will winter through in my zone. Does anyone know??? Also, how might I take cuttings from them and try to root them for next season. Can I just put the stem cutting in water and winter over...or can I use a rooting hormone and pot them up and try to get them to grow inside my home through the winter months. Any advice would be appreciated.

Deb

Here are is a photo of my spiders

And one more

Deb...you most certainly *can* winter them over in Z5. I've done it for two years now. There's several methods of doing it and I'm sure you'll get lots of info from the other DG members.

Last year, I cut mine back at the end of the season (now I wish I hadn't...will explain in a minute), then when the ground froze hard, I mulched them heavily with pine needles (Pine straw to those who have to buy it. :-)) to keep them from heaving out of the ground with the freeze/thaw cycles we go through. Then I crossed my fingers and waited til spring.

When the first really warm day sof spring arrived, you could find me out there carefully digging under the mulch to see if they'd survived. YES!!! I had MUMS!!!

Now...I covered them back up and waited until the weather settled down to a dull roar before I completely uncovered them. And then I was so scared of losing them, I left the mulch close by so I could scoop it back over them if they were threatened.

After about a month or so of growth, I cut my plants by about half. I know...I waited too long to get my act together about pinching. But it worked out very well. I took those 4-6" cuttings and put them in a jar of water and sat them in my north garden beds. Within a couple of weeks I had rooted cuttings enough to FILL any and everyone's garden beds.

The wonder of wonder is not only did they grow like crasy all summer for me...they BLOOMED this fall!

And now for the "I wish I hadn't cut back my plants" part.

Earlier this fall, I wa digging large holes to plant my bulbs in. In one spot I was pretty close to my favorite mum and was afraid I'd break the stems. So I mounded up some of the soil from the hole right into the middle of the mum. (You guessed it! Something happened and I forgot to get it back out.)

Well, when I was taking in the sights of the last flowers in the garden, I realized that I'd forgotten to get that extra dirt from inside the mum. So went and got my trowel...and my kneeling pad and sat down beside it. WHAT'S THIS?????

Oh MAN!!! That plant was FILLED with new growth at the base of the stems that had been covered with soil!

Now...this *isn't* a new method of propagating Mums...I'd just forgotten that I'd read about it a long time ago.

Here's a thread over in the Upper MidWest Gardeners Forum that shows what happened.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/555936/

Hope I've helped a little...and I hope I didn't step on too many toes with my ignorance. :-D
~julie~

Any other advice would also be appreciated. Julie and I D-mailed and determined she did not have the spider mums. Anyone else out there overwinter spider mums?