Joan Swenson: Vibrant fall color as close as the nearest chrysanthemum
| Monday, Nov 17 2008 05:59 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:08 PM
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Brilliantly bright yellow chrysanthemums stand out against rust-red mums in the same bed in a neighbor's garden. Chrysanthemums are overlooked by some, but can make an interesting addition to the garden. (Photo courtesy of Joan Swenson)
From a block away, I can see a neighbor’s chrysanthemums, brilliantly bright yellow, contrasted in the same bed with rust-red mums.
Chrysanthemums are overlooked by some, but can make an interesting addition to the garden. The ones I noticed are planted in front of a row of tree roses, which lets both plants shine at this time of year. The chrysanthemums would make a nice foil for roses year-round, really, because they will be green most of the rest of the year and burst into fall bloom, when roses have recovered from the heat and are blooming brightly, too.
Mums are available typically in the spring and fall in Bakersfield. It seems as if I see plenty of four-inch pots in the spring and the bigger mums in the fall, sold even at grocery stores and pharmacies. Color selection includes bright yellow, cream, pink, maroon, lavender and deep purple with flower forms from buttons to daisies and from spiders to doubles.
Remember that chrysanthemums are perennial plants and will grow and spread in the bed where you plant them. These aren’t like pansies, which you will discard next June and replace with marigolds. If you treat mums well, you’ll have years of flowers.
Fall mums look great indoors in pots at Thanksgiving and, if the colors are right, into the Christmas season, too. Keep potted mums watered, cutting old flowers in the coming weeks.
When the fall bloom is done, pop them out of the pots and plant. Cut back the plants to about eight inches. Because the chrysanthemums are grown from cuttings, you may have several plants in each pot, which can be planted separately.
Chrysanthemums need a sunny location because if you don’t have sun, you don’t get flowers. You don’t need to fertilize or do much besides water — if necessary — until spring.
Pinching is the thing that makes mums look their best and it must be done during the growing season. It creates stiff stems and bigger flowers. Start next spring by pinching off with lateral growth. Leave up to four lateral stems on each larger chrysanthemum stem. The Sunset Western Garden Book says you should cut off the top pair of leaves on shoots that grow to five inches.
If you have chrysanthemums with big flowers, pinch out all but one or two flower buds on the forming flower clusters late next summer. Stop pinching altogether at the end of summer.
Because of the size and weight of mums, they can collapse, particularly when we have big rains. You may need to do some staking to support your mums. Chrysanthemums need to be divided when the clumps get too big, every two or three years, in the spring. Dig up the clumps and pull or cut apart the plants and replant — or share with a friend.
