Chrysanthemums are one of the easiest perennials to grow. Though they are not specific to any season, Chrysanthemums (aka mums) are showstoppers in the fall, blooming well after other garden plants have stopped for the season.

Hundreds of varieties of Chrysanthemums provide a multitude of options for height, color, flower size, and time of bloom. You can pick and choose to fit your needs. Regardless of whether you are getting your Chrysanthemums for inside your home or outside if you want their blooms to last the longest, get ones where the flowers haven’t opened yet. Unless of course, you have a party or something happening soon and you need the mums for your decor. In that case, it’d be best to get fully flowered ones, rather than waiting and hoping the flowers open in time.

1. If you want to take care of your mums indoors, the first thing you should do is to make sure they’re in a pot with adequate room for their roots to grow. Also, the pot should be filled with a good potting mix that provides decent drainage. A lot of us just buy mums for fall decor and just stick them in a pretty pot while still in their black garden center pot.
2. Next, make sure your mums are getting enough sunlight. Mums love the sun, so indoor mums will do their best if placed close to a window that lets a lot of sunlight in every day.
3. Also, make sure to give your mums enough water. And don’t just pour water over the top of them and let it drip down into the soil. That’s just asking for the plants to develop fungi. Instead, water close to the roots of the plant, saturating the soil, not the leaves or too much of the stems. Mums should be watered frequently when first potted, then given about 1 inch of water a week, once they’re more established. If their leaves start to wilt, they need to be watered more frequently
4. Lastly, don’t forget to “deadhead” your mums as necessary. To deadhead your mums, you can use your fingers or pruning shears to pinch off any dead flowers. Try to cut them off above the next set of leaves on the stem. You can also remove dead leaves when deadheading. Deadheading your mums helps to make your mums look neater and helps to extend how long they bloom.

With these few tips in mind, enjoy your mums. For more information, contact Bryan Hartman, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent at bkhartman@ncat.edu.