Mums 101

Posted on September 5th, 2021

Everyone knows chrysanthemums as the classic autumn annual, but people often wonder just how long they will last, and when all those buds are going to open. The answers to these questions depend heavily on temperature and the intensity and duration of sun exposure. However, we can narrow down a window where you can expect to have a nice display of beautiful fall color from your mums!

Chrysanthemums do best in a full day’s worth of direct sun but will tolerate down to a part shade setting, and they prefer cooler days.

When chrysanthemums have more buds than flowers, it takes cooler nights and sunny days to help their blooms fully open. How long that takes depends on how nice Mother Nature is to us.

When in color, under optimum conditions, you can expect your mums to bloom for about 4-6 weeks. We have early, mid, and late-season bloomers; if timed correctly, your early blooming mums will provide color from August to September, the mid-season bloomers from September to mid-October, and the late-season bloomers will finish the season off from mid-October to the first frost.