Garden Notes

Hardy mums adding color to fall garden

We live in a Milwaukee suburb and our area is supposed to be a planting zone 4. I cannot tell you the number of hardy chrysanthemums I have planted over the years. They were all supposed to be hardy in our climate but many times the darn things bloomed that first year and then died. I knew it was because of our cold winters, but I was frankly sick of mums and their high death rate.

I did notice that I had a few mums that were stronger than the rest. Some of them were in the garden when we purchased our home and were still going strong. I decided to divide up the plants that actually did well in our yard and create groups of the stronger mums. Instead of planting a new bunch of mums every year, I would buy just one new plant of each variety I liked. Then, if that plant happened to live through our winter, it would be divided up and join the survivors group. That worked much better! I now have quite a collection of chrysanthemum that have been coming back every year and I am very happy with all of the beautiful fall color that they provide.

I found that hardy mums do best planted in full sun. They need regular feeding due to their heavy blooming and also need adequate drainage. If you plant hardy mums in the fall, do so at least six weeks before blooming to allow the plant to get established. I found that I have a much better survival rate when I plant mums in the spring. I think they are more established by the time winter comes and they cope better with the cold.

Mums do not need to be cut back after they have finished blooming in the fall. The research says that it is best to mulch the hardy mums with about six inches of mulch, such as pine needles or straw. I have not been doing this and perhaps I would have better luck with the more tender varieties if I followed this advice. I have instead concentrated on finding mums that actually like living in our yard and propagating those varieties. My method has resulted in a good variety of mums that actually do well in my garden and it is a lot less work!

I love the look of mums and the color they add to a late fall garden. My only problem is that a lot of the mums in my garden have to co-exist with spring and summer perennials like bleeding heart, goatsbeard, coneflowers, and shasta daisies and they get almost crowded out. As soon as the earlier plants have finished blooming, I do cut them down, but as you can see, the mums are not as full as they could be. I am still trying to find a cure for skinny mums and am open to suggestions.