Every September, mums start showing up everywhere and I immediately want all of them. It's fall. I'm predictable. 😂
But here's the problem: I don't really care if my mums look incredible in early September. I want them putting on their show in October, when the porch is decorated, Halloween is coming, and I'm actually deep into my favorite part of fall.
Over the last couple of years I've settled into two ridiculously simple habits that help me get there.
No complicated mum-care schedule. No gardening degree required.
1. Buy the Boring Mums
Okay, they're not actually boring. They're just not the ones everybody immediately reaches for at the garden center.
When I buy mums in September, I look for plants that are absolutely covered in buds but have very few flowers already open.
The giant fully-blooming ones are tempting because they're gorgeous right now.
That's exactly why I don't buy them.
I don't want my mums peaking the day I bring them home. I want to bring home what basically looks like a giant green ball covered in tiny promises. 😂
Give them some time, and those buds gradually open as we move toward October.
I'm basically buying my flowers for the month I want to enjoy them, not the day I'm standing in the garden center.
2. Water Their Butts
Yep. That's basically my sophisticated gardening advice. 😂
Bottom water your mums.
I leave mine in their plastic nursery pots and drop those directly into my decorative planters.
I place the nursery pot into a container of water and let the plant soak it up through the drainage holes from the bottom.
Then I check the water levels every couple of days to make sure it has not dried up.
It's easy, the roots get a thorough drink, and I'm not dumping water all over the flowers and foliage from above.
That's Literally It
Buy them before the show.
Keep them watered.
Have a little patience.
Then, hopefully, while everybody else's September impulse-buy mums are starting to look a little crispy around the edges, yours are finally doing the thing you bought them for.
My fall mum philosophy: Buy them boring. Water their butts. Enjoy them later. 😂
And now that I've documented this, we'll see whether I've just personally offended the mum gods and killed every single one of mine before October.
I'll report back. 😂