There's a Difference Between Florist and Garden Mums
Are mums perennials or annuals? It depends. Find out which mums keep coming back year after year and how to ensure your mums come back.
Are Mums Perennials or Annuals?
There are two different types of mums: 1) 鈥淕arden鈥 mums (found at garden nurseries) are hardy perennial plants. 2) 鈥淔lorist鈥 mums (often found at grocery stores and flower shops) are treated as decorative annuals and not grown to survive the winter. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?
Want to read more about mums? Check out our Growing Guide for Chrysanthemums for growing and care tips.
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Fun fact! Mums are the birthflower for November!
1) Perennial Garden Mums, aka Hardy Mums
These mum varieties are hardy in zones 4 to 9, and will grow stolons underground as they get established, returning year after year.
With perennial mums, both the flowers and lovely green foliage will be visible; with florist mums, foliage is largely sacrificed for flowers. Perennial mums have many flowers, but the blooms are usually smaller.
Mums are 鈥減hotoperiodic,鈥 which means they will set buds when the days get shorter in late summer! Then, they will bloom from late summer to fall for about eight weeks.
Note that both 鈥渆arly season鈥 and 鈥渓ate season鈥 mum varieties are bred in case you wish to time your flowering or have a mix of both types for a more extended season!
You may keep your in the pot, but they鈥檙e genuinely happiest and grow better in the ground (which is where you should plant them if you want them to survive winter). In the ground, mums can grow up to 1 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide in one season.
2) Annual 鈥淔lorist鈥 Mums
The annual mums in the florist pots are only hard to USDA zones 7 to 9. You usually find them at grocery stores, home improvement stores, and florists. Think of them as disposable holiday decor, along with the pumpkins you buy for Halloween or otherwise.
Annual mums like huge Football chrysanthemums, delicate Spiders, and Spoons are generally not good choices for landscapes 鈥 however, we love them for fall containers! They have shallow roots, so they are not well-equipped to survive winter. They are not bred to be hardy; their form, color, and size are prized.
Most florist mums are already in full bloom with beautiful autumn jewel-hued colors. Also, they鈥檙e usually ALL blooms with very little foliage as it鈥檚 secondary. (Once the flower is in full bloom, it鈥檚 past its peak and already declining, so pick plants with smaller buds if you want them to last longer.)
Do Garden Mums Come Back Year After Year?
Only garden mums are perennials. However, you also need to plant these mums in the ground at the right time.
Ideally, the best time to plant perennial garden mums is in the spring. It gives the plants plenty of time to put down roots. You鈥檒l probably need to order online because most local nurseries don鈥檛 carry mums in the spring.
If you plant them in the fall, it can be too late because they鈥檙e not building roots; they鈥檙e putting energy into blooming. That doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 impossible to plant them in autumn and have them return next year. It just takes a little extra work.
Planting Mums in the Ground
- Get those garden mums in the ground no later than mid-October. (If it鈥檚 too late, try it, and you may have a mild winter!)
- Besides planting your perennial mums in the soil, you can change the odds in your favor by leaving the dead foliage on mums (and asters) instead of shearing them down for neatness.
- An found that unpruned plants survive much lower temperatures than pruned plants; the foliage acted as extra insulation.
- Plant mums in an area with full sun (6 hours or more) so their roots can survive.
- Choose a location with good drainage and no standing water.
- If possible, plant in an area more sheltered from wind, such as the south-facing side of your home or near a wall.
- Dig a hole slightly larger than the pot and just as deep as the root ball. Don鈥檛 put them in too deep, which is a common mistake. Water well.
- Add 4 to 6 inches of mulch after the ground has frozen for even more protection. (Yes, at least 4 inches!)
When the plants appear next spring, feed them with a granular slow-release fertilizer and pinch off the tips of each branch (just an inch or so) a few times before July to encourage bushiness.
After that, stop pinching, or you鈥檒l remove flower buds. If you don鈥檛 feel like pinching, you don鈥檛 have to; they鈥檒l still bloom but with a more carefree, floppy sort of appearance.
Pinching off spent blooms (deadheading) will encourage new flowers.
Want to know how to overwinter mums? See our article on how to keep mums alive over winter.
Doreen G. Howard
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Mums are becoming more available in spring at garden centers, large home centers, etc. Also check the spring mail-order catalogs - sometimes you can find a greater selection.
I just purchased 5 mums in pots from home depot can I leave them in their pots in direct sunlight? What do I do when the buds are all gone? Do I need to put the dead plants in the basement until the Spring? I've planted them in the ground before and they all died.
If you live in a cold climate, you may have trouble overwintering fall mums outside because they do not have time to establish themselves. You could try keeping your mums in their pots until it frosts and they turn brown. Then, cut the plants back to 1 inch. Water the soil. Put the pot in your basement or unheated shed on top of some magazines or newspapers. Surround the plant with more newspaper to keep it insulated from drafts. Every month, check the dormant plant. If the soil, is dry, water it.. In the spring bring your pots back outside or plan them in the ground.
HOw to do mums in winter
I have the opportunity to buy fall mums from a neighbor, but know nothing about mums. Everything I'm reading says mums should have been planted in spring. If I buy these mums, do I plant right away or keep them potted thru spring and keep them in the house? I'm in Indianapolis and our winters can be brutally cold. I really don't want to waste money if these are going to die.
Hi, Joe, As the blog post above explains, mum鈥攅r, chysanthemums鈥攑urchased in the fall season are not suitable for planting. If you want 鈥榤um plants in the ground, plant them in the spring. If you want mums for decoration, buy them in pots in the autumn. Read above and, if you really feel strongly about buying now, consider overwintering the plants in pots as explained above.
Or better, maybe: Ask your neighbor if he’ll make you the same deal for plants after the last spring frost next year. THEN you can plant in the ground with little worry. (How little? See above again, especially the advice for super-cold regions.)
I actually planted 4 or 5 mums at the end of the season last year and they all survived the cold Ohio winter. In fact, one is already starting to bloom.
Hi, Pat, It sounds like you got lucky. Very lucky鈥攁nd that’s not to take anything away from your gardening skills. Not everybody has it as good as you do! Thanks for sharing!
We live in Connecticut and dug our mums up for the winter. We replanted them in the spring but they all still look dead. They were kept in the basement and we could not find a grow light so we settled for fluorescent lighting for 6-8 hours per day. Is fluorescent lighting not enough? We thought since plants do so well in most offices that it would work for our mums. Should new growth have shown up by now? Should we trim them back? There's still some dead growth from last year.
THANK YOU!
Hi Debbie,
In colder climates you need to store the mums in a dark cool place over the winter months. They need to go dormant. About once a month give them some water to keep the soil moist. In the spring plant them outside and you should see new growth starting. Your mums should have started to grow by now. You can dig them up and see if there is any growth showing from the roots. If not you need to replace them with new mums.
