Mum's the Word: Looking at Chrysanthemums Around the Area

Without looking at a calendar or spotting a harvested corn field, it's clear fall is marching headlong into our lives with evidence outside most grocery and big box stores.

Chrysanthemums, commonly referred to as mums, are popping up everywhere. Their colors of yellow, maroon, rust and orange attack the senses and often launch a search for pumpkins and corn shocks.

While die-hard gardeners faithfully search for the healthiest, most perfectly shaped mums, pay the price, bring them home for placement at the front door, the base of the mailbox or along the sidewalk, some feel that tug of regret that these beauties are not growing in their flower beds or popping up alongside the shrubbery.

The United Stated Department of Agriculture's plant hardiness zone chart clearly puts Morrisons Cove in Zone 6, and growers list mums, which are considered perennials, to be hardy to Zone 5.

Despite this, many have tried, and few have succeeded, in getting mums to weather over and return for another year of bloom.

Occasionally a success story is spotted such an older home along Rt. 36 in the Hickory Street area, Hollidaysburg, where someone has done something right. Two bushel basket-sized mums grow close to the brick front porch. They are a rich rust shade and pleasingly mound shaped while still having a tall, mature appearance.

On a personal note, I've had years of success with a non-mound shaping mum that has faithfully returned and bloomed along a stone wall at the front of the house.

It has classic mum-type leaves with the daisy shaped flowers blooming in single blooms.

Relatively noninvasive, its coloring is the lightest of pink creating a beautiful diversion from the autumn tones of most flowers and leaf foliage.

This mum and that in Hollidaysburg have nothing in common in terms of species, but one thing that jumps out is their location.

Those Hollidaysburg mums are clearly protected from winter winds and enjoy the heat, which likely gets trapped in the bricks of the house.

These pink mums enjoy protection from north winds and heavy snow accumulation and also benefit from the heat stored in the stone wall.

But only recently have I heard plant experts point out that one of gardeners' biggest mistakes is placing the potted mums in areas to create spot color and curbside appeal.

Bring them home, remove the black plastic pot and get them in the ground, the earlier the better.

Make sure they are tight up against the soil at the bottom and sides of the in their new home. The roots must come in contact with moisture and nutrition sources and begin reaching out before winter rolls in.

They need time to start growing and they also need excellent drainage.

A spade full of rich compost will go a long way in developing healthy winter hearty plants.

If the soil is heavy clay, the planting spot may need a whole lot more than a spade of compost.

Once in place, don't forget the mums. If regular rains are not coming, water them, water them and water them again. Declining temperatures do not spell the end of hot sun through out fall.

And speaking of sun, while they will grow in spots with partial shade, the more sun they get, the happier mums are.

As with any bloomer, dead head the spent flowers but allow the leaves and stems to remain in place and growing. They are used to transfer sunlight into energy needed for forming a healthy root system.

As winter moves in and the blooms end, trim the stems back, but leave an inch or two showing above ground level.

Some gardeners suggest winter protection such as burlap or pieces of Styrofoam held in place by a brick.

As spring moves in, remember to leave the mum area of the garden undisturbed until green appears.

For those intrepid gardeners lucky enough to see that green, the work is just beginning.

Watch the plants carefully and pinch off any forming buds stopping about mid-July.

A sister who has been successful with mums used July 4 as the cut-off date to stop the blossom pinching.

Also remove wayward leaf branches, which if allowed to go unchecked, will ruin the plants desired mounding shape.