Mums run a full spectrum of color, ranging from red, white and yellow to orange, purple and even multicolor flowers. Growing chrysanthemums indoors is easy and requires little special care beyond watering, good soil and drainage. You can pinch back the plant to just a few inches tall in July and August to enjoy hardy flowers again in the fall. My quetion is: Can I bring them inside for the winter? If temperatures could fall below freezing, wrap the pots with several layers of newspaper to protect the roots. The next step in winter care for mums is to properly insulate them in the fall. You can plant them in the ground the following spring if you wish to do so. They can even help filter the air. If you want to try overwintering your potted mums, plant them by themselves in a container that is easy to move indoors when freezing temperatures arrive. Plant mums in pots filled with fresh, sterilized, well-drained potting medium. Keep this light on 24 hours. Or is it better to leave them out in the cold. Be careful with placing them so floor heating ducts or doors opening or a fireplace or wood stove don't give them a dose of cold or hot temperatures. Cut the brown foliage and stems, leaving 1 inch above the soil line. Feel the soil about 1 to 2 inches deep two or three times a month and irrigate the plant when the soil feels dry. Outside in a shed will probably be too cold, so you may have to do this in your garage or basement. You can bring your dormant plants inside. Tip for winter: You can bring these inside like you would other potted plants, but just make sure not to over water and keep them in the sunlight. Water mums daily while they're blooming. However, even the strongest plants wilt and begin to die without proper care. The nice thing about geraniums is that they will go into dormancy easily, meaning you can store them in a similar fashion to storing tender bulbs. You can leave your garden mums in the ground during winter, especially with a layer of mulch in the cooler zones. After the last hard freeze of the spring, plant the mum in the warm soil or move the pot back outside. You technically can also overwinter your mums indoors, though it can be a bit tricky. At that time, take the pot outdoors to its summer location for two or three hours, then bring it back indoors to its winter location. The potted mums you buy in the fall dry out quickly since they are usually top heavy with bloom and have a relatively small amount of roots. If you want to do it, you could try to add them as indoor plants to the house. Caring for mums indoors is easy and with only a few tips you can keep a mum plant healthy for three to four weeks. Continue watering until the ground freezes. Trim the stems and foliage. Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 10, mums are often treated as annuals and tossed out each year. Leave the foliage in place. In closing, just a few more tips for keeping your mums looking great. Transplant the chrysanthemums to a new, larger container once you bring them home. Choose a mostly dark cool area, such as an unheated garage shed or basement, which has temperatures between 32 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. If not you may want to move the plants to a nursery pot that can be placed inside the decorative pot during the growing season. I planted them in a large pot. They will likely be root-bound in the pot from the garden center. Leaving pots outdoors, even when labeled as a “hardy mum” is a recipe for disaster. You can leave your garden mums in the ground during winter, especially with a layer of mulch in the cooler zones. Jim Jenkins Lawn and Garden Center: Caring for Fall Mums, The Old Farmer's Almanac: Mum Madness Invites Plant Disaster, University of Illinois Extension: Pinching and Pruning – A Perennial Primer, How to Care for Fall Mum Plants in Containers, How to Care for a Potted Yellow China Mum. The leaves of the plant will die back and become brown after a few hard frosts have hit your area. Many varieties of mums are available and come in most every color in the rainbow. Store Your Perennials Indoors. Don’t oversaturate them, but avoid letting them become too thirsty. Avoid any that are wilting or show signs of damage. However, because potted plants are more susceptible to cold damage, bring your mums indoors for winter safekeeping. As the season progresses, you might need to move the pot to another location to give the plant the sun it needs. (You might want to rethink keeping in them in your house if you have pets since mums are toxic to cats and dogs.). Keep mums outdoors until the foliage and flowers die back after the first frost. And if they become too large, you can simply divide to have even more beautiful, lush, … Get more info online at http://www.connecttristates.comOn Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/khqa7newsOn Twitter: @KHQA http://twitter.com/khqa #KHQAtm Each day, bring the pot outdoors and leave it there for an hour or so longer each time. Mums love the sunshine, so let them get a good four hours of light every day. When you choose perennials for containers, you need to consider their climate adaptability. One option is to try to overwinter the mums by burying the pots in the garden. Most potted varieties are known as florist's mums since they are sold as a living seasonal bouquet. Temperature: During winter, lavenders like it cool but not drafty; the temperature can drop to as low as 40°F (5°C) at night and shouldn’t be warmer than 65°F (18°C) during the day. Before bringing indoors, cut the mum back a few inches above the potted soil line. If you decide to keep your mum longer than just this fall season, you can definitely try bringing it inside. Chances are when you think about fall, you see beautiful, flowering mums, or more specifically, chrysanthemums (Dendranthema x grandiflora). Planted Mums Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. They are outside now, the tag says they are hardy thru the winter up to -20 degrees farenheit. Luckily, many berry bushes are cold-hardy and in fact need a certain amount of chill hours to set fruit in the spring. Potted mums are not the same as the hardy varieties that go into garden beds. If you bring home some mums to decorate your home or garden for fall, a few simple steps can help the pretty plants bloom all season long — and you can even enjoy them again in the spring. Make sure your container will withstand the rigors of winter. A basement or unheated closet might work well. What Do I Do With My Potted Mums After They Die? When planting your mums, also consider planting them in a somewhat sheltered location where they will not be exposed to winter winds that can decrease their chances of surviving the winter. Once the first frost has blackened them and you’ve cut them down, put them in a pot and bring them into a dark place that is cool (between 32-50°F). The goal is to allow them to go dormant without freezing. Come spring, take them back outside and start your watering, fertilizing and pruning regimen so you can produce lush, compact, blooming wonders for which mums are prized. This will provide enough light for getting geraniums to last over winter indoors, though the plant may get a little leggy. Prune the plant periodically, pinching off dead blooms to make way for new growth and to keep it looking lovely. Water them from time to time through the winter: 1 usually treated annuals. 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