By Mary Jo Baur
This very popular plant will soon be offered for sale just about everywhere from garden shops to supermarkets to big box stores. They are inexpensive and add a pop of color to our fall gardens. They can replace some of the tired annuals in your yard or in containers or window boxes.
There are many different types of mums, but the kind we find most often are not really bred to be hardy and last from year to year as a perennial. I have tried to plant them and keep them through the winter, but with little success. Last winter I did keep one in a container in my garage and it survived. This spring I pinched it back to make it bushier and have more blossoms. Sometimes it's hard to get rid of those buds that you see, but they will come back with even more flowers later in the season. Mine has already blossomed, but I deadhead (pinch off the flowers that have passed) and I see even more buds on the plant. These will produce flowers at a time that we more typically think of as mum season.
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