What's the Best Way to Plant Fall Mums?

Dear Gardening Gloves:

I know mums are a traditional fall flower, but I was wondering about the best way to plant them. Should I plant them in the ground in my garden, or put them in pots on the porch?

- Chermaine, Knightdale

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Hey Chermaine, great question! I think where you plant your mums is entirely based on personal preference. I love the way mums look along a curved flower bed, or in groups in natural areas beneath pine trees. But, for me, one thing I do not enjoy is scrubby mums that are overgrown and unshapely. So I tend to put them in pots on my porch steps, on the back deck, or dotted throughout my garden (pots and all). Lavender mums are my absolute favorite, but I have always enjoyed burgundy plants, too.

One trick I've learned through the years for plants whose roots I don't want to spread, like mums and mint, is to put the whole two- or three-gallon plastic bucket down into the hole I dig in the earth. The buckets are unseen, the roots are contained, and at the end of the season I can quickly pull them up and recycle the pots and compost the plants.

Here in North Carolina, garden mums grow perennially ... and exponentially. Each season they seem to double or triple in size. Normally, I'm not a big pruner on shrubs and trees because I prefer a more naturalized shape. But gigantic mums are just not my cup of tea.  If I do plant them directly in the ground, it's in my back garden that is heavily shaded and thick with pine trees. And because I like for them to bloom in the fall and winter, I keep an eye on them throughout the spring and summer and pinch off any forming blooms. Don't worry about pinching off too much of the stem, because mums are hard to kill. 

For other fall and winter flower options, you might also check out: pansies or New England asters. Pansies are annual and the asters are perennial, but both appreciate a nice bed of fresh mulch or loosely-packed pine needles tucked around their bases to protect the roots in the coldest temperatures of winter.

Good luck!

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