Barb, mums transplant very easily. Just chop off a couple corners of your big container mum and plant them separately. Add a dabble of fertilizer and water well. They will take off almost immediately.

I take those large container mums out of the container and plant them. By next spring, it is very easy to dig up part of one and chop it into several smaller mums.

Good luck.

Kate

Kate - thank you for answering. I was beginning to think nobody was on this forum. I know you can take off some in the spring but the trouble is that I can't get any of them to winter over in our zone. I note that you are in Zone 6. I live out in the country and have lots of freezing and thawing and the only ones that seem to be hardy here are the yellow ones, which we have lots of . I tried to put the other colors and winter over in my heated garage under the lights and they were not alive this spring. I would like the white, pinkish ones and the lighter brown ones but it seems impossible for me to carry them over out here. The reason I want to order the small ones is that I have lots of containers and like to have the variations in the fall to put in there. I need the name of some nursery, I guess where I can get the smaller ones, as I use them with other plants. Do you have the names of any nursery? Anyway, thanks for answering. - BARB

Wish I could help you on that, Barb, but I don't think I've ever ordered mums. Usually either pick them up at my local garden center or just chop them into more clumps during the spring and summer, as needed, from the mums already in my garden.

It used to be that garden centers always sold all mums in small containers in the springtime, but somewhere along the line, some marketing specialist decided they can make more sales by holding back the mums until early fall and then selling them as big, full-blooming mums. However, if you keep a close eye out, you should still see a few small mums offered in the spring at a garden center that sells lots of annuals, or maybe in front of a grocery store. The only problem is that they probably won't be blooming, so you won't know absolutely for sure that they are properly labeled until fall rolls around.

Hope you manage to locate a few next spring. Just remember that they are very easy to overlook in the springtime--just not much to look at that early.

Kate

Most growers who ship mums to outlet for retail have the ability to light a crop/shade it. Heck, even a small facility can do that. That means a small pot of mums in spring can indeed be full and blooming. The short day length going into spring season forces bloom and that's why lights are used for a spring crop to stop the short days when the crop is growing to let them size up. Then lights out and nature will take its course. I sell spring mums, but don't do it routinely because frankly the market just isn't there. Why? People have been conditioned to think of mums as a fall plant and they want them then and they want them blooming. LOL.

Spring is the best time to buy and plant mums of any and all size. And it's sad that they aren't more popular then. I have noticed that some of the box stores around here will stock small pots of mums in fall. But, actually the royalty on a four inch mum is the same as the royalty on a ten inch mum. And the return on a ten inch is considerably higher. And, they practically grow themselves as far as crops go.

I'm in a very cold zone 5, and mums will over-winter in the ground for me. They die back all the way to the ground and then new growth comes up from the roots in the spring.

With very few exceptions, they come back the next year as white mums. I suspect that the nurseries are coloring the white mums to get some of the colors they are selling; like you can color celery red by giving it red food color in the water.

I did have a dark pink mum come back as a pink mum, so they don't all come back as whites, just most of them.

I had a pretty blue fall aster come back the next spring with white flowers.

Thanks for the replies. I believe the reason I have so much trouble is because we have such intense freezing and thawing here. I have a friend who used to have her whole drive lined with mums and she is unable to keep them any more either. Also, I live out in the country and we don't have much protection. I don't know, however, why I couldn't winter them over in my heated garage under lights except from time to time they were subjected to cold drafts. We did try to make a plastic curtain to keep this from happening. I just like to nurture them through their early period of starting. They seem to be so much healthier if Iam able to do that. Anyway, thank you so much for replying. - Barb

Barb, freeze/thaw is an issue with mums. And I agree with you, that they do seem to be so much healthier when you can get one in small and raise it on site. Fall garden mums are so cheap anymore that I don't think the breeders put a lot of emphasis on hardiness. They've become 'disposable' like so much other stuff in these times.

The drafts shouldn't hurt an overwintering mum at all. I'd be tempted to find a place with some protection and bury the pots in ground and much around them well to winter them over. They certainly don't need foliage or light to overwinter and in fact should go into dormancy. They also need excellent drainage.

Bluestone Perennials sells mums in spring only. They have all kinds of blooms and heights.

Mums are easy to propagate by pinching and planting as the others have mentioned.

Cameron

I was going to recommend Bluestone also, for spring-planted mums.

:)
Dee

I buy mums from the supermarket in flower. After the flowers are spent I chop them up and have several plants from each purchased pot. Next year they come back in variety of unexpected sizes, shapes and colors. Usually next years plants are taller with smaller flowers than those sold in the supermarket. Occasionally they are vary similar the the original plant. We do have some freezing and thawing with last winter being the worst on record and this years mums look fine.