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Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 11:23
| I have a long narrow strip of mulched soil between my garage wall and my walkway. During the summer I have my 20 gallon geopot containers with tomatoes growing here. Now that fall is approaching I am removing the tomatoes that are done and need to fill in this area so it doesn't look so empty. My plan is to buy potted mums and then either transplant them into my decorative plastic containers or plant them directly in the ground. Since this is only for the Fall season, is it better to just keep them in the containers or plant them in the ground? What would look better? I would pull them out of the ground as soon as the cold weather set in. This is what the area looked like in early June:
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| An idea is to pot them up and then plant them container and all in the soil either now or when your cold weather arrives. The idea is you can pull up the containers in the spring, grow in an out of the way place until next fall and do the switch with your tomatoes again next year. This is assuming your Mums are hardy to your area. If they are florist mums I'm not sure if they would be hardy to your zone or not being much more zone challenged myself! |
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| I think there may be some varieties of mums that are fairly winter hardy these days. I'm uncertain if they were bred in Wisconsin, or wherever... I used to have quite a nice collection of spider mums purchased through mail order from Kings mums, although I think this year, sadly they may have retired. One pot full disappeared, & I did manage to get some more, before it was too late. Maybe the Chrysanthemum Society offers some? Here is a photo of one of mine from Kings, with a large flower, using the disbud technique. (btw I only pinch off small side buds, leaving the single uppermost bud, or possibly up to three & do not cut back, until after the show is well over with.) |
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| I suppose that doesn't answer your question very well. Though Debbie has a rather good idea. Since the ones I grow aren't extremely hardy, I keep them potted & during severe winter spells, bring inside (don't have a cool garage to put them in, to overwinter, anymore.) If you are simply using them like expensive annuals, then do as she suggested, with the benefit of maintain them easily, over winter stored in a garage & cutting back. Bring out, after it warms up & you should have the same ones , to use all over again. Unless, as I mentioned, you locate the hardy variety & place them between your tomato plants & see if they survive the winter, as it appears it may be the southern exposure, against the house, which helps the chances of survival, a great deal |
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| I'm in zone 5 in Maine, but don't have the patience to over-winter the annual mums they sell potted around here. They'd never look as good as when I buy them in the fall. Since you're asking if they'd look better in your decorative pots or planted, do you have photos of your pots? I assume that everything you show for your tomatoes comes down, so you have the blank garage wall and the mulched strip? If your pots are on the taller side, they may added some desired height. If you're buying the large potted ones ( I see everything here from quart to bushel size!) you wouldn't needed the added height. |
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