Decorating for fall with mums

I look forward to mum season all year. My late grandmother’s favorite flower was yellow mums and I think of her every fall as I use them in my fall decor.

Here are my tips to keep your mums looking fresh for the fall season:

• Buy mums that haven’t opened all their blooms, this maximizes the color and display season! It’s so fun to explode in color throughout the fall season. 
• Don’t set your mums out too early in season if you have a warm fall season. Where I live, it’s not safe for mums much earlier than October. 
• Consider buying “hardy mums” and planting them in the landscape for perennial color, the plant comes back year after year!

WATERING:

1. Don’t waste water but hand watering the plants but rather fill a bucket with water and place the plant in the bucket (given that the bottom has drainage holes).
2. After allowing the mum to soak up water from the bottom up for 30 minutes to 1 hour (depending on plant size) remove plant from bucket of water and place in the planter or on a drainage tray to drain excess moisture. Mums dry out really quickly and this allows the plant to absorb more water than when you at water at the top of the soil.