Mums the Word

                Pot of Mums from Costco, $15

I’ve always loved the blast of color that planting fall mums offers. But the plant’s bloom only lasts for 4-5 weeks, and I then I’m forced to look at an ugly stump until it re-blooms months later.  What to do?

My longtime gardener, Jose, had the perfect solution.  Use mums in pots – do not put them into the ground.  Then when the blossom goes – so does the plant - only to be brought back out when the color returns. With that in mind, I bought this gorgeous 3-1/2 foot potted pink mum at Costco for $15.  If it were a clay pot, it'd be impossible to lug around, but luckily the container is plastic.  The perfect spot in my yard turned out to be in between some ferns and some roses where another plant had died over the summer. 

The mums look stunning there and, on an average day, the landscape is seamless. I pulled away some of the perennial ground cover from the clay pot just so you could see that there is, in fact, a pot there – but typically the ground cover runs right up the pot and covers it so it looks like the mums in the ground.

When the blossoms die, I will cut the mums back. I’m not talkin’ deadhead here, this is a severe cutback leaving about five-six inches of stems. Then I’ll move the pot to my back yard “sickbed” – where I keep everything not in bloom.  I’ll feed it, and when the pink reappears in several months, I’ll simply find another spot.

The “model” in the shot, by the way, is my Havanese puppy “Bo.”  He looks friendly but, truthfully, we are adversaries.  I plant.  He un-plants.  I love him anyways.

Comments

[Anett Murray]

Holy Moly ! They are stunning ! How did you do that?

[Nicole, havanese owner]

Some Havanese tend to be very mischievous. But it's really fun to have them around.