Will Chrysanthemums Survive Winter Planted Outdoors?

[roseycheeks]

I have a question, I had a mum that my hubby got me and kept inside the house, it was beautiful for a few weeks then it started turning brown and the blooms were fading. I put it outside in the container and forgot about it. I had to go back to the rear of the house to get something and it caught my eye, it has 3 bunches of new leaves on it, so my neighbor and I dug a hole and planted it, watered it real well and I wanted to know if it will survive the winter since I planted it in the ground. Any advice you can give me will be appreciated, thanks. I would also like to know what kind of protection to give it, I did not prune the dead stems off because the pages I read said it would help if I did not prune until spring.

[rainbowgardener]

Chances are not good, though it makes some difference where you are. I imagine you have told us sometime, but it is hard to remember everyone's information. It would really help if you would change your profile to reflect that. In this case, the relevant part of that is how long you have before hard freezes and the ground freezes.

The stores all sell all these mums in the fall that have been forced into full bloom to look beautiful in that moment. Most of them are destined to be thrown away in the spring when they are discovered to be dead. Good for business, because they will be bought again in the fall. Planned obsolescence in the plant world. Forcing them like that weakens them to start with and then by the time they are planted they don't have enough time to get rooted in before freezes shut them down.

Best is to buy them in the spring, long before they are blooming, while they are still small and non-descript, and give them a whole season to get established.

[roseycheeks]

He did not get them in the fall, he got them about the middle of summer, we just now decided to plant them. Most of the foilage was dead looking but when I took it out of the pot, the soil around the roots was still damp and there was 3 bunches of new growth on the plant, I will take a picture of the plant and you can see what I am talking about.

[imafan26]

I used to grow chrisanthemums and I usually bought a plant in full bloom and made cuttings from them to make more. They are not hard to grow but they are relatively heavy feeders and require pinching and dead heading if you want larger flowers and they needed to be thinned and the foliage was better kept dry so I bottom watered or else they are prone to mildews and need regular fungicide in humid conditions. I did not stake mine so they sprawled, but they were beautiful and I had flowers to enjoy summer through fall. Every year in Japan they have a Chrisanthemum festival in the fall. I know because they can grow in Japan they can take cold, but, I don't know what they require for winter care.

[rainbowgardener]

RE: "He did not get them in the fall, he got them about the middle of summer, we just now decided to plant them." I got that. Nonetheless, they are not rooted in to their new site. You still have not said where you are or how much time you have before they will freeze and go dormant. That is an important determinant in whether they are likely to make it through the winter or not. The fact that it has new growth now proves nothing except that it is not dead, but does not help in whether it will be able to get established in its new site in time.

Generally once the plants are fully dormant, any time from early to late winter or early spring, I cut the old stems off close to the ground. If it is doing well it will have some little new growth, close to the ground.

[catgrass]

I am in zone 9. I have some in the ground, and some in pots, all a few years old. They will look ratty, die back, come back and bloom again. Mine bloom in the spring and again in the fall. And I agree, where you are matters before you put them in the ground. You can overwinter them in a pot until the spring if you are cooler than zone 8.

[imafan26]

It is probably to overwinter them indoors in a harsh climate anyway. Planting them out in the spring will give the roots time to get established before it gets too cold.

rosycheeks please update your profile with your zone and location. It is hard to give specific advice without knowing that.

[ButterflyLady29]

In Ohio it's a gamble. I had some that survived for years in a shaded garden then just didn't come up one year. I've got one that's been in a raised bed for 3 years. The 2 I bought and planted with it didn't fare so well. One didn't last that first winter, the other lived one year then didn't come back up. The ones I had in the shed last winter died in our late spring freeze. I'm trying again, this year they'll either be in a warmer spot in the crawlspace or a building where I keep the temp just above freezing.

[rainbowgardener]

I lived in Southern Ohio, zone 6. Generally for me spring planted mums or mums that were well established from previous years didn't have any trouble wintering over outdoors in sunny sites (in the ground). Shade or being in pots would make it iffier.

What I was reacting against was all the disposable mums they sell in full bloom in Sept and Oct. People buy them and plant them, thinking they are perennials (which they could be treated differently). But forced to bloom so that it is covered in blossoms (never will look like that again) and then planted very late, it is doomed to die as soon as there is hard freeze.

[Susan W]

A pretty mum pot can dress an entry way or inside in a room, especially when little else is blooming. Enjoy!
Planting and having them come back is a dice roll, and partly dependent on climate, and if course if done well enough before freeze. I've picked them up off the 'dump table' at a garden center, and some make, some don't. If they don't, some organic matter left in soil, and if they do, pretty blooms next season!

[Taiji]

I got some of those mums off the bargain table at Walmart a few weeks ago for our new property. I was hoping to cut them off at dormancy this winter and figured they'd come up again but didn't realize they might not. Didn't realize they were forced into bloom. Well I guess I'll see what happens! This is a good thread, because if they don't come up, I'll know why! I probably would have been soured on mums forever.