What To Do With Potted Mums After Blooming

During the Fall season, many blooms die, resulting in a dull landscape that is unpleasant to look at. However, the chrysanthemum is one of the few flowers that bloom in the fall. These plants emerge anywhere during this season and lighten up the landscape.

Chrysanthemums or Mums are hardy plants that can defy climate change and add beautiful hues to your garden. These plans can be bought in grocery stores, and garden centers and some grow naturally in gardens. The plants are easy to care for and come in a variety of colors and sizes.

Many people purchase potted mums in the fall and throw them away after the blossoms are finished. Nonetheless, there are various things that you can do with potted mums even after blooming.

Add Color To The Garden

First and foremost, you can use bloomed potted mums as temporary color in the garden.

Since many flowers would have died at this time of the season, mums will add a little flavor to your garden with their colorful flowers. Pick the varieties with the colors and styles that you desire. It is important to note that the flowers don’t last long. Therefore, they will light up your garden for around two to three weeks before discarding them.

The temperature of your garden and the time of blooming will determine how long the flowers will last. After they have dried up, you can now discard the potted mums in compost. Alternatively, you can take care of the plant and help it to re-grow.

Cut Off Flowers

If you love mums plants and want to maintain them for long, you should cut them after blooming. Get rid of all the faded flowers. It’s recommended to cut around one-quarter of their height. And if the winter stays mild, some mums will yield a few extra flowers.

You should also cut off each flower after it has completed blooming to maintain a neat appearance. If you’ve got wilted blooms on the plant, you should cut them as well. These will compete for water and nutrients with healthy blooms, which might hinder newer blooms from flourishing.

Also, your garden mums will bloom if you don’t pinch the growing tips, but you’ll end up with plants that have long stems and few flowers.

Removing flower buds by pinching promotes branching and increases plant fullness.

Cut The Plant Back

After your potted mums have bloomed in the fall, you should cut them. This will help to extend the lifespan of your plant. Cut the plant’s stem back to 6 to 8 inches above the ground level. This should be done in late January or early February. They will stay dormant throughout the winter season and re-emerge in spring.

To know if your mums survived the cold winter, you should see new shoots come out at the base of the old stem stubs. If there is no growth, then your plant died. Mums are hardy plants that should survive the cold winter.However, there are different varieties, and planting the right one for your area is crucial.

If you live in a freezing area, you need to grow hardy perennial mums. These typically have a month-long blooming season. They also die in winter and re-grow in the spring.

Perennial mums are also referred to as garden mums. These mums are common in hardiness zones 5 to 9.

Transplant Potted Mums

Besides using bloomed potted mums for décor in the garden or cutting off the flowers for a neat appearance, you can transplant the plant.

Chrysanthemums will stop blooming after around two weeks. To transplant the potted mums after blooming, you should place them outside when the weather starts to warm up. This will prevent them from developing new buds and blooming. As a result, the mums will remain green until you transplant them outdoors.

The best time to transfer your potted mums from the pot or container to the garden is during the fall. Transplanting your plant in winter might cause it to die.

Additionally, you have to transport the mums to an area that receives at least 4 hours of sunlight. The soil should also be well-drained for smooth growth. But if you’re growing mums from the nursery, you should do so in spring.

Overwinter Mums

Finally, you can also overwinter your potted mums after blooming. This will protect them from the harsh cold weather and survive the next growing season.

Place your potted mums under an evergreen tree with low sheltering branches, next to a building, or inside a garden shade. Note that overwintering does not work with all types of mums, but hardy perennial mums alone. If you have florist mums, they may not survive when temperatures fall very low.

Florist mums are only good for annual growth but not perennial growth. Apart from planting hardy mums in pots, you also need to ensure that the drainage is good if you want them to overcome an extremely cold climate. Also, you should add mulch at the base of the plant. Use wood chips, leaves, or even dead stems. This will help to protect the plant from excess cold nights.

How To Take Care Of Your Mums Properly

• Out your potted mums in a sunny area in your home. Mums need at least four hours of sunlight for proper growth.
• Ensure the soil is well-drained at all times. You should not overwater your mums or leave the soil dry.
• Use the right containers to protect your hardy mums from the elements. The best container materials are concrete, terracotta, and resin.
• Deadhead or pinch-back flowers for long-lasting blooms. This will make your plant more beautiful, and it will bloom longer.
• When watering your plant, avoid watering the flowers and leaves; instead, water the soil.
• Get rid of any dead leaves or flowers on the plant to prevent them from competing with the healthy plant.
• Repotting is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your mums. The majority of mums in containers will have extremely compacted root balls after having been in nursery containers. Your plant will flourish if you gently separate the root ball and transplant the mum into some new potting soil.
• After repotting, give the plants a good soak and then water them every other day or whenever the soil feels dry. Avoid letting your plants wilt. After receiving fresh water, they’ll recover nicely, but the flower buds might not look as vibrant or last as long.
• Applying a 2-inch layer of mulch around the roots of your mums is a good idea for winter gardening no matter what region you live in. Make sure to remove mulch from plants that have it directly on top in late winter or early spring so that new growth can emerge in the spring unharmed.
• If you want to keep your plant around a while, you can put it into a larger pot. You can also plant it into a larger container with other plants for an attractive mixed planting. The potted mums purchased in the fall are typically both in full bloom and rootbound. When your plant is finished blooming, you can remove the spent flowers and transplant it into a larger pot.

Conclusion

With these tips, you now know what to do with your potted mums after blooming. Don’t throw them away, as you can still use this beautiful fall plant in many ways. Utilize it to decorate your landscape, transplant it, overwinter the plant, or even cut the flowers in preparation for the next growing season. Make sure that you get the right type of mums bloomings in your pots and area.

Florist mums are great but not suitable for extremely cold conditions. The hardy perennial mums are the best for cold areas, and they can be grown repeatedly. Take good care of this flower in your garden bed, and you will love its beautiful hues when other flowers die in the fall.