question about Mums

I was given a basket of white mums for my birthday. Do mums come back next year if I plant in ground? The only other time that I had mums, they died shortly after I put them in the ground.

Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks all.

Ruby

ruby where i live they do but i think it gets to cold where you live, but i'm not sure

Yes, they come back if you put them in the ground.

flowerjen, i'm glad you answered cuz i wasn't sure. i know mine come back in alabama

I think it depends on what time of year you get the mums. I've never had any luck planting out mums that were "forced" into bloom. Actually, even with fall purchased plants that survived, I've never had much luck getting them to look great again the next year (yeah, I pinched, fertilized, etc)... maybe they just hate me, LOL... I've started thinking of mums as a "once and done" sort of plant. But they're gorgeous, and a big pot of blooming mums lasts a lot longer than a bouquet of flowers!

I hear that many of the fall mums just aren't hardy and like critter says, takes a lot of care to even try to get that full round bush look.
I used to have small white ones that were here when we bought, but they have died out due to lack of interest.

Yep, they are super high maintenance. I worked at a nursery that grew them - the amount of pinching, watering and fertilizing that goes into growing them is ridiculous, imo. I've had some come back after planting them in the ground, but as Critter mentioned, I've never had them come back quite so full and globular. I cannot be bothered to pinch them back each and every week through the Spring and Summer though.

I'm glad it's not just me! I think I'll just keep buying a couple each fall and composting them when they are done.

I must admit, I prefer them in a more natural state. They had some chrysanthemums on display in the Bonsai exhibit at the arboretum which I found quite beautiful. Here's one.

and a few more:

If you don't mind this look, then I say go ahead and plant your seasonal mum's. But, I'd confirm that your particular cultivar is hardy, etc.

definitely like the natural look with them....i bought some during bluestone's (blue stem's) sale and have been very pleased with the flowing shapes...the only other mums i bought were on a cart sale at lowe's...whole cart for $10...i ended up with about 24 1 gal to 3 gal plants...all daylilies and mums...hoping all will come back next year :-)

10 for the cart? nothing needs to come back. its worth it for the compostable!! surely the DLs will.
dangit- I had talked myself out of going to Lowes this week................HAD, past tense...

yeah, that's an amazing score. I love it when that happenz.

i was pleased and surprised because usually the carts are full of very dead plants...it took a while to fit the plants in with my young son, but we all made it home :-)

Great news, Larlienda. I'd hate for you to have had to leave him behind with the salespeople to look after him.

i know....they probably would have put the little guy to work!

let's see him explaining that to the therapist in twenty years.
( love the caveman- "its my mother, shall I put it on speaker?")

LOL, I actually liked that commercial, too.

i guess i should start preparing now :-)

lar- you know I mean if he had to stay at the store. I think its very educational for kids to ride home with trays of plants propped across the car seat. Botany up close and personal.
How did I miss this??? new Lowe's five minutes from me, right off 97at Quarterfield Rd just opened this week. Oh, it'll be bad. All my christmas presents will be things I buy there to justify a visit to plant clearance. How soon will they have any plant clearance at a brand new store??

and they should be sending you coupons too!

Gosh, Sally, you won't know the answer to that question until you go by the new Lowe's in person...

Don't forget to report back and let us know what you got. Puppies need to learn botany, too, btw.

Edited out a naughty apostrophe. Bad apostrophe!

This message was edited Nov 2, 2007 12:40 PM

went to the old Lowes this afternoon Grrr. Glen Burnie had nothing. well bulbs are 25 % off but not in the market for that. ( tho a nice selection of daffs bearded iris some others. ) Wouldn't it be a good socialization exercise, totake the pup plant shopping?
Still have a dozen cannas hanging on in pots, tropicana red and gold. They have to clear them out any day. Starting to get their Christmas rosemary treelets

i missed out on the canna clearance at winchester's lowe's...all went for under $3 but i had planting to finish doing before i bought anything else....don't know why i made such a silly promise!

if I spot these for a dollar I 'llget enough for both of us ~~

OK, you too, wrightie~~

RUby too, seeng as how she started this with her mum question.

I ,too, use to pinch back all the time but this year the 1st week in July just sheared them with hedge clippers around 1/3 off. Best they ever looked.

I've done that to my asters before, FJ ... and yet they still never developed that super bushy look that I was going for at the time. Since then, I've just left them to do their own thing. I'm glad to hear that you had success! There is hope!

Thanks everyone!!! Please bear with me as become accustomed to this new fancy smancy keyboard. I had to buy one that my son told me about and is called The Virtually Indestructible Keyboard. The story goes is that for about a year now I have been experiencing sleep issues. I awake anywhere between 1:30 and 4:30AM.

That has found me many, many times sitting and nodding away. Many times I have a cup of coffee in my hand, Not good at all!!! I have purchased at least 5 or 6 keyboards in as many months. My son who is a Barista at a coffee stand told me about the one they had at work. This thing is much smaller than a regular keyboard and doesn't have all the hard plastic casing that regular keyboards have.

The instructions say that I will soon become accustomed to this one, but onky time wukk tekk, Ha-ha /that should have read as - only time will tell.

Mums. huh? Thank you all for the replies..

I should have known that it would turn in to a joke session when I saw that sally and wrightie were responding, You guys are really hilarious, Poor Larienda's son. You all are so funny....but I get your gist. I think the same way at times, I think that Garfield and myself were cut from the same cloth. He thinks along the same lines as myself.

Oh yeah, mums. Critter made a good point about using them for compost, I wouldnt feel too badly about doing that. I now have them sitting on the back deck on a table and I can look out of kitchen window and see them. I will decide on Monday when
I plan to plant bulbs whether I leave them where they are until they die and then compost or whether I dig another hole and plant in ground.

Jordonkittyjo and flowerjen, thanks for adding to discussion, And......shame on the person who mentioned Lowe's. Yep, I agree, it can be addicting. I have to stay away as much as I can.

You all have a great weekend.

Ruby

Check out these pictures of the Kiku display at the New York Botanical garden. Ironically, the best ones are int he Chicago Trib!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/chicago_gardener/images/2007/08/01/chrysanth_03_loresrk.jpg&imgrefurl=http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/chicago_gardener/2007/08/the-flowers-tha.html&h=133&w=200&sz=64&hl=en&start=9&um=1&tbnid=IS8km6f95SdGbM:&tbnh=69&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNew%2BYork%2BBotanical%2Bgarden%2BKiku%2Bpictures%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIH%26sa%3DN

The yellow blossomed one is ozukuri, one plant that has been trimmed to 5 main branches each of which is trained to preoduce hundreds of simulataneous blossoms, all strung through an individual wire holder. Someone has too much time on their hands!

This message was edited Nov 3, 2007 9:48 AM

I saw that on TV last week, Dragonfly. Gorgeous!

How interesting Dragon. Thank you for sending link to article. More and more reason to leave the white mums as they are in the pot and when dead throw in compost pile.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the day that I spend some time in cleaning up my yarden for the winter. Oh yeah, cleaning up and planting some bulbs while at it. I am sure when I get out there I will find all sorts of things to keep myself busy.

A big thank you to all who responded to Mum question. I appreciate it.

Ruby

I know I'm a little late on this to be piping in, but I just wanted to add that over the 4 years we've been here I've received and bought several potted mums. I usually just let them die off in their pots and eventually get around to putting them in an area on the south side of the house. (Ok, by that statement you can tell I'm not an experienced nor anything near expert gardener) Those plants keep coming back bigger and stronger than ever each year.

A few days ago I was out there and noticed several were laying wide open as if something had made a bed in the middle of the plant--they'd grown quite tall and the blooms were big and heavy--next year I might go out and stake them or just cut the flowers and bring them in the house so we can enjoy them as much as the cats do from their basement window.

Thanks Darra. It can't hurt to give it a try. I will try that versus throwing in compost pile. I wouldn't mind having it come up each year to remind me that my son bought it for me.