You can't go wrong with mums flower, especially when they are fall-season bloomers! Mums are the ubiquitous flowers of spring garden; you can call them showstoppers that bloom prolifically after other gardens.
Also called Chrysanthemums or chrysanths, mums flower are the flowering plants native to Asia and Northeastern Europe. However, its cultivars and different horticultural verities vary from country to country.
Chrysanthemums were first cultivated as a flowering herb in China. While these flowers look like having various petals, each petal is just a small floret, which later become flower.
From African daisies to Asters to Coreopsis, Calendulas, Zinnias and Shasta daisies, these blooms come in a variety of colors and shapes. And the best part, these flowers last for weeks and are perfect for showing off an impressive garden.
Chrysanthemum Classifications:
While the chrysanthemum has 100 different cultivars only in the United States, the National mum's society has classified it in 13 different categories. Some of them are disused below:
Anemone:
These are daisy-like blooms featuring long, tubular florets clustered with a tight button center. Once bloomed, they form a 4-inch single or multi-color flower. Its popular varieties include Purple light and Angel, Dorothy Mechum.
Irregular Incurve:
These blooms are giant with irregular florets and loose petals. The irregular incurves feature blooms of approximately 6-8 inches. The lower florets add fringe to the bloom making it look impressive and fuller. Other verities of this type of flower include Blushing Bride, River city, and Luxor.
Decorative bloom:
A decorative flower is a flattened bloom having short petals. While the upper florets are incurved, the lower petals are usually reflex. The approximate height is 5-inch, which gives a flat appearance from the top and wider as it centers out. Some popular varieties of the flower include Coral Charm, Honeyglow, and Fireflash.
Pompom:
The pompom is just like a regular incurve having an approximate height of 1-4 inches. These are tight blooms with popular varieties, including Yoko Ono, Lavender Pixie, Rocky.
Reflex:
The reflex flower is usually flat and has curves that go downward. The overlapping florets give a feather-like appearance to the flower. The common varieties of reflux include Champion, Apricot, and White City.
Regular incurve:
These flowers are tight and give smooth inward moving florets. Every bloom is between 4-6 inches of diameter. It's most common varieties include Moria, heather James, Gillette.
Intermediate curve:
Its florets don't cover the center of the bloom; instead, they are curving inward and reach maximum 6-inches. Other famous varieties of intermediate curves are Candid, Pat Lawson, Apricot Alexis.
Spiders:
Spider mums are known for their long spiky florets in single or multi-colors. The tubular like structure look like spider legs and move in all directions. Popular varieties of spider bloom include Symphony, Western Voodoo, and Evening glow.
Quilted:
Quilted mums are impressive and show-stoppers having long tubular petals that bloom downward or comes in a spoon shape at the end. Popular varieties of quilted mums include Mammoth yellow quill, Muted sunshine, and Seatons Toffee.
How To Grow Mums:
Perennial mums are quite durable, and with little mums care, they can bloom beautifully. Here's how to grow the best mums:
Start Early:
Spring is the best time to grow mums; this gives them a lot of time to produce a strong root system and also keep them from being heaved out of the soil in winters. So, look for mums in the early springs. If it has flowers, cut them so that the flower can grow more branches and roots. Planting chrysanthemum in early spring give perennial plants sometime to settle in its new garden. You can also go for big mums, but the small ones increase longevity.
Keep On Shifting Flowers:
Divide mums every spring and toss-out the dead and the weak ones simultaneously. Keep only healthy and young plants in your garden.
Let There Be Light:
While chrysanthemum grow in the sun, they can tolerate some shade. Generally, these flowers become more profuse if they are kept in full sun. However, in hot conditions, you can keep them in shade. Also, mums set their buds with respect to the daylight, so don't plant them in bright night light.
Find The Right Soil:
While mums planting is easy as they grow perfectly in wet soils, well-drained soil with constant moisture is what they prefer the most. Planting these flowers in hard and dry soil makes root establishment difficult. And, wet and boggy soil takes roots down the soil. So, finding the right ground is important.
To create a perfect bed for these flowers, dig-in at least 8 to 12 inches. Now, mix 2 to 4-inch organic material like peat, moss, and compost. To ensure that you have created a perfect soil for the planters, take some in your hand and squeeze it; the soil should fall or clump. Instead, it should crumble.
Use Fertilizer Often:
Since chrysanthemum is easy feeders, keep them fertilized as soon as you see a new plant growing. Give another dose after a few days or when you see the buds coming. You can also use slow-release fertilizers in spring. Also, keep in mind to not fertilize after mid-August and other ways of how to take care of mums.
Right Spacing Matters:
The spacing of the plant varies from the variety of mum you are using as well as on pot size. Just keep enough space when planting mums so that the foliage of plant don't touch each other. Also, planting garden mums close can develop a pipe appearance with petals combined.
Growing Mums In Containers:
To cherish the most colorful bloom time, go for potted mums whose buds have just started showing color. If you are putting them in containers, use a layer of fertilizer or potting mix and then shift. Whether you want them in the garden or a pot, slip the mum off, place it with soil, and you are all set to enjoy the colorful blooms.
Pests And Diseases Mums Can Suffer From:
Some of the damage that mum can suffer are thrips, spider mites, aphids. However, common diseases include leaf spots, rust, powdery mildew, botrytis, stem and Verticillium wilt, root rots, and other viruses. So, follow all steps for caring for mums to ensure disease-free blooms.
If you want to create a colorful show in your garden, chrysanthemums are what you need; but do check if your garden is clean. If it's messy, you can try the on-demand lawn care services app Tedious.
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