How to Grow Chrysanthemums (mums)

in Your Garden?

The fall best flower – because they bloom when all other flowers are almost or completely over with blooming. This flower is native to China and it is found all over the world. It is one of the easiest flower to grow but requires a little trick to grow tons of flower in it.

“chrysanthemum” comes from the Greek words for gold (chrysos) and flower (anthos) or in short it is called mum flower.

Varieties – there are over 50 different varieties of chrysanthemum flower with color, size of flower, bloom time, height etc.  Some of the varieties are Spider, spoon, quill, pompon, anemone, cushion single and most commonly we use anemone, cushion, decorative varieties in our garden.

For the home garden, the most common hardy types are the anemone, cushion, decorative, and single varieties. Chrysanthemums are one of the easiest plants to grow, but show-quality and non-hardy blooms require a great deal of care.

How to grow mums flowers.

Light – 5-6 hours of light is enough daily.

Location – Good water draining soil where air circulation in the soil is also best.

Acidity / basicity – pH should be around 6.5

Fertilization – These flowers are pretty tough so they can grow on their own but adding compost can enhance the quality and quantity of the flowers.

Temperature – The best temperature for this plant is around 70-75 degree Fahrenheit.

How to plant and get maximum mums flower?

To start with these flower these plants should be planted once the freezing winters are over. The temperature has started rising.

Pruning – Then you can plant them and they will start growing.

First Cut – Once they become 6 inches long pinch off the stem around 2 inches. After some time new four stems will appear from the side of the stem when we have pinched off the plant.

Second Cut – Pinch of the plant again once the plant gets around 10 inches long. Again number of branches will start to appear.

Flowering time

There should be around 3months of time before the flowering time. The plants shouldn’t be disturbed any more for getting tons of flowers.

Rooting time

They can strongly root them within 6 weeks of planting the new plant or the cut off branch.

Spacing

Spacing between the flowers can be maintained around 18-24 inches apart. As once season of the blooming is over in next season they will multiply themselves and more number of plants can be achieved.

Buying a new plant

They are found in a container at the garden shops just you have to choose a bushy plant with a lot of stems and leaves in a healthy condition.

**Note – we should not walk too much in the garden bed as the soil will be compact and the plant will have difficulty in growing and blooming in future.

Propagation

This can be done in two ways by seeds and by stem cutting.

By seeds – Once the flower has finished off the blooming, collect the flowers and separate the seeds from the flowers. You can use antifungal power to store them or they can just be placed in the zip lock bag and kept in the freeze.

In next season during the end of the winters start seeding indoor. Within 1-3 weeks the seeds will start growing.

From Cuttings – Cut of the 3-4 inches of stem of the flower, remove some leaves and cut the base in 45degree angle and if you have rooting hormone apply it and if you do not have it just plant them an inch deep in sandy soil or normal garden soil. Within 3-4 weeks the plant will grow strong roots and the plant start growing.