While my mums set buds early, only one variety, "Beth" opened earlier than usual. Not all the buds opened at one time, so it is still partially in bud and partially still blooming. A cute little button mum that grew at my parents house for 20 years and that I have now is an early bloomer and it opened well and right on time. I have another that is just starting to show color, and 3 are still in bud. At least in August and so far in September, we have had some rain, unlike June and July which were HOT and very dry, and my later blooming plants, like the mums are looking good.

Linda

I'm a little late to the party, so I missed the early summer discussion. I shear them back (literally with shears--like I'm trimming an afro) every couple of weeks and for the last time before July 4th. Mine are just starting to bloom--lots of buds, but just a couple of open flowers, so far.

Kevin, funny you should ask as I was just bemoaning the terrible state of my mums yesterday, and thinking about that thread.

There is one grouping which started sporadically blooming about a week ago, just about a half dozen blooms, but the plants look fabulous. I knew they would bloom too early but I just couldn't keep cutting them back! Ironically, these are some fall-purchased, cheap, meant-to-be-trashed mums that I left in the ground "just in case" and they are now on their second return (so three years total).

My spring-planted, reputable-nursery-bought mums, on the other hand, the ones that I want to succeed and which are front and center to everyone entering the premises, are awful. I was wishing I had a camera with me yesterday. They have buds, but the plants are straggly and scraggly, lots of brown and dead leaves, and not nearly enough buds to make up for the look. I'm thinking that for now on I won't even bother pinching these. The heck with them. If they want to bloom in June so be it. I'd rather have them look gorgeous in June than like crap in the fall. I almost said "in October" but realized it's only September, lol.

Or maybe I'll replace them this fall with some cheap, meant-to-be-trashed mums, lol. The only thing is the "good" ones are in shades of pinks, lavenders, and purples and they are harded to find in the fall selections (at least the deep rich colors I have).

Actually, I just thought of a third planting - again, some fall-bought mums I stuck in the ground last year "just in case". I'll have to go look at them. Last I saw, the plants were doing well, and I didn't even have to cut these back as much - maybe only twice. I don't think they are in bloom yet. They are kind of a washed-out pink, but maybe I'll move them to the pink and purple bed where the "good" mums are and let them duke it out!

Dee

I sheared mine down to 6 inches until late June. Now, it is about a foot tall, densely branched and heavily budded. I would estimate bloom time to be first week of October. These plants are always experiments, but I think I got it right this year.

My seed-grown Korean mums are just starting to open flowers - and yes, I did have to cut them back several times to prevent premature bloom.

Other hopefully perennial varieties planted in summer are also getting ready to flower, including plants I successfully propagated from cuttings.

'Clara Curtis' looks like it may be in for a banner year - buds are just beginning to form.

Eric

I need to try seed grown mums again. I did that one year a long time ago and liked what I got, but I don't remember which ones they were.

Clara Curtis is usually one of my favorite mums because it's so reliable and can also pass for something other than a mum - almost like a big pink daisy. The only thing I don't like about it is it's susceptibility to wind damage which we seem to get a lot of these days. This isn't going to be a good year for my Clara, but last year it was very nice.

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Kevin

Thought of this thread today as I looked at a group of mums with disgust. The orange ones that had the most promise (looked great after pinching, didn't bloom too early) look awful now. All blooms are dead and gone and they have flopped over, short as they are.

I'm going to cut them back only because they look so bad. I wonder if its possible to get more blooms now...?

Dee

Dee

I have my doubts about more blooms, but I don't know what zone 6 weather is like.

All the pinching I did most definitely delayed flowers on some. I'm nervously watching a few hoping they WILL bloom before a really nasty freeze. Buds don't develop as quickly this time of year.

With all that said, seeing my other mums in bloom now just confirms how much I adore these plants. I've made a mental note to order boatloads of new plants next spring. You simply can't have too many of these.

Kevin

Kevin wrote: seeing my other mums in bloom now just confirms how much I adore these plants. I've made a mental note to order boatloads of new plants next spring. You simply can't have too many of these.

Kevin, can I assume you have a large property as many of these 'mums' take up lots of real estate. I would love to have some more but I no more room.

rouge

No, I have a tiny property. Granted, I have virtually no grass any longer, but still my gardens occupy very little space in comparison to (I imagine) the majority of people on this forum.

But also, mums don't spread that rapidly for me. Maybe it's our winters and the fact I don't mulch for winter. Or maybe it's the varieties I select. I don't know. If something does grow larger than the space it is assigned to, I divide it and sell the divisions.

When it comes to mums, I would rather have lots and lots of varieties rather than a few huge plants. Just me I guess.

Kevin

I love mums too - just not so much this year, lol. I don't expect more blooms from my afore-mentioned orange ones, but I am going to cut them back anyway just because they are so sloppy looking - which really bugs me because they are not tall at all, having been pinched back half a dozen times.

I've also decided that one particular grouping of mums will not be pinched back again. They look HORRIBLE and have few blooms. I'd rather have them look gorgeous (and exotic, lol) in June than dead in October. I will add some asters to this bed for fall color. I don't know why but this particular grouping just does not take well to pinching.

I'll continue to pinch the rest, and of course, to add more! I agree, you can't have too many!

Dee

Mine have done well this year - still blooming despite light frosts

Mine did very well. ABout half I pinched, and half I didn't get around to. Both look nice, though the unpinched ones are a bit floppy, they both bloomed like crazy and still look great.

I'm having a good year with my mums. I love mums and like Dee, I've added both hardy, spring planted mums and fall 'throw away' mums. They are all doing great. I've had 'throw away' mums come back for me for probably 5 years at least.

This year, I was determined to cut back my mums at the correct times and I did for the most part. The last time I cut them back was July 4th. So I have some that I cut back and a few that I didn't. Quite a contrast. Those that were not cut back are straggly and flopping. Those I cut back bloomed later and are a great shape, healthy foliage and covered with blooms at the right height.

I also love the ease with which they root. I propagated mums one summer and they were SO simple. Cuttings in moist potting soil and watered well until they rooted which was less than a month. And when you trim them back early in the summer, you have a LOT of cuttings to use, so you can create a good size pot and they grow on very quickly.

I also bought some 'throw away' mums early in September that were still in the bud stage. They look horrible right now....lol. First of all, I hated the color once they opened and I forgot what the colors of the mums near them were and now they clash. And they bloomed and are dead and ugly while my home grown mums are blooming and pretty. I'm going to have to move things around in the spring. I'll try to get a few pictures tomorrow, although it will be cloudy.

I only have 2 types of mums. One is a groundcover, C. weyrichii 'White Bomb' which bloomed at its regular time in mid-September and continued until frost last week. The other I no longer have its name, but it's the last flower to bloom in my garden, just starting now and will last until a hard freeze. Sometimes it's still blooming almost to Thanksgiving if we have a warmer than usual autumn. It's a coppery colored, very double flower, and looks much like the nonperennial ones sold in garden centers, though it's a bit taller at close to 2'.

We had a summer that was far closer to normal for our part of northern New England than much of the US, though the season did warm up a bit early after a mild winter last year, so I am not sure that I would have expected anything to bloom at a radically different time, unlike many of the others who post here.

I ran into a problem with some leaf fungus. Next year I'm going to have to take cuttings, rip out this patch, and restart a patch somewhere new. I think the dry summer must have stressed the plants out and then the lack of mulch let the fungus splash around. Black spots on the leaf bottoms spread, eventually the leaves and whole stem dries out and dies. The orange went first, the purple all have it, the white seems resistant.

Elsewhere the orange is doing better.... just a little tall this year because of the early spring.

Here is some better looking purple too.

Wow, kato, those orange mums are beautiful!

Do you think you could post a close-up of the fungus you are referring to? I'd like to see if perhaps that is what is happening to my mums. I thought it was stress from heat and drought and repeating cutting back (because the buds just kept forming and forming and way too early) but maybe there's more to my problem than I thought.

Thanks,
Dee

This self sown seedling is also giving it a go now that all the coleus and other annuals froze back.

Ask and you shall receive.... I didn't realize how fast they were dying until I just went out there (maybe there will be no cuttings next year after all). The only leaves not completely dead are the ones shaded by the cherry.

The white one really is immune! Oh well, guess I'll have a white bed next year.

Here's the leaf spot fungus.

Thank you kato! No, I don't think I have that. I guess that's good, but then again it doesn't matter much because my mums look like... they look awful, whatever the cause.

I was just looking back again at your orange mums - is that gomphrena that you have next to it? Strawberry Fields? I'm surprised they still look so good (if that's what it is. If not, what is it? Very nice combination!)

Dee

Yes, those are gomphrena, I think it was qis red originally and has reseeded here and there each year. You just have to be careful to distinguish between them and young crabgass... they look similar.

They usually go till frost, mine are now looking a little worse but still ok since even when frozen the flowers keep their color.

Wow, kato, you've got some gorgeous mums there. That orange is so dense! Sorry to see you've had a fungus and lost some. I think you are probably right, that the dry hot weather over the summer stressed them.

Here are a couple of photos I took this morning. Happy to still have some color in the garden this time of year.

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