I simply break mine off by grabbing a handful of stems, then with a quick snap of the wrist...done! Much quicker than cutting.

Not sure if you can take Advil or not? It does wonders for after gardening aches. I make sure to take it before bed after a long day of gardening. No soreness when I get up! Love my Advil :)

I don't see why you couldn't use your lawn mower. As long as the blade is sharp and not set so close to the ground that you'll tear up the soil - and plant. I say try it.

We have had folks discuss doing their perennial bed cleanup with a mower with well-sharpened blades set as high as possible or with a strimmer/weed whacker. They sometimes won't cut cleanly, so I wouldn't do that on a plant that was fussy, but mums are fairly difficult to kill IME. I use old fashioned hedge shears since a few whacks and I am done. They have long handles, and if I bend my knees, I don't have to bend my back.

I have quite a few mums. Mine span the entire length of my front porch, which is over 30 ft. long, so I just finished using the mower this morning to cut them. I cut them a little lower than I wanted, but like NHBabs said, it is really hard to kill them. I'll wait and report back later on how they are recovering.

I’d be concerned that if mums are planted in amended and loose soil, that the mower might drag and pull the plants. I guess using high setting would help. I whack them to 2-3” from ground but I don’t have that many.

The soil is fine and the plants didn't get plowed up by the mower, thank goodness.