One Simple Step Can Keep Your Gorgeous Mums Blooming For Longer
If you purchase a mum (Chrysanthemum spp.) plant every year, you may — like many people do — bring it straight from your car to your front porch. Then, perhaps, you pretty much ignore it besides an occasional watering when you remembered. And while mums are considered to be hearty plants, a little TLC can go a long way in helping you get the most out of the festive flowers. The simplest trick? Repotting.
While they are generally pretty low-maintenance plants, there are still some quality tips to keep in mind so that you know exactly how to care for mums. It may be easier to keep your mum in the pot it came in, but repotting it can make a huge difference in how long this seasonal plant can live and improve its health overall. The pot that you purchase your mum in is usually a bit of a tight squeeze for the plant, and giving it a bit more root space to spread and grow can help them flourish — such as in a beautiful black ceramic planter.
Deciding between planting mums in another pot or directly into the ground
When it comes to replanting, you have two options — and which one is best for you is determined mostly by what you have to work with. If you decide to plant in the ground, you will want to be sure that you don't crowd your mums so they have enough room to grow. You can also wait until your mum is on the way out to plant it, and with proper pruning and winter care, it will grow back next year ... so long as it's only the flowers that are dying and not the stems and leaves as well. You can also overwinter mums in pots if you don't have the space or desire to plant them in ground.
If you do plant in a pot, make sure that it has plenty of room as well as materials that can be used as drainage. Mums like a soil that is damp, but not wet, so you want to be able to strike a balance between dry and waterlogged. Also make sure that wherever you plant your mum that it is receiving enough sunlight: in order to thrive, it should get at least four hours of sun each day. To encourage even more blooms, deadhead the flowers throughout the season. This not only helps new growth, but also keeps them looking great.