This was our first season growing heirloom mums. These aren’t the typical huge ball mums that are sold in home improvement stores every fall. These are beautiful flowers that grow in a spray on a stem and have the most incredible vase life. Did I mention they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors?
I would say that we are impressed beyond belief by these plants. All of our mums started out from cuttings, which are taken from a mother plant and then rooted until it is time to plant. Once you have one plant, you can multiply it into many. Mums require pinching to encourage branching. Once planted outside, the plants require netting/corralling as they can get quite bushy.
My favorite thing about mums is that they bloom when the dahlias start to fade in October. Each variety blooms at a different time, but they provided us with blooms from October into November. Most have lasted about 2 weeks in a vase and continue to remain gorgeous with minimal care.
The remaining plants are mulched over heavily with leaves in hopes that they can make it to next year and start the process all over again.