Want the brightest chrysanthemums crowding your garden this fall? We share ways to make your Mums Bushier and Fuller!
Mums, or chrysanthemums, are most popular fall flowers that add rich and versatile colors to gardens and homes. We share ways to keep your mums looking fuller and bushier while they grow and bloom happily through the seasons!
Ways to Make Mums Bushier and Fuller
1. Pinch Mums for Bushier Growth
To get those big, beautiful blooms in fall and winter, you must do a little maintenance during the growing season. One crucial step is pinching back excess growth in chrysanthemums so the plant grows uniformly instead of having one tall stem outgrow the rest!
If you don’t pinch back, the main stem will stretch out and turn leggy, while the shorter lateral ones won’t get enough resources to develop.
When you cut back on time, you coax about six new shoots into sprouting from all sides. And by autumn, they’ll all be pushing out blooms, giving you a flowerful plant!
Pinch chrysanthemums in spring, at the start of their growing season, and keep doing this every 2-3 weeks or when the plant grows 3-4 inches taller. Cut back its top growth to promote more shoots.
Stop around July to allow the plant to heal, grow, and form flower buds. Use scissors to snip each shoot individually, even if it seems time-consuming and tedious.
2. Prune Several Times
The key to pruning chrysanthemums is to do it several times. The first one is more like pinching, it’s done when the plant is about 5-7 inches tall with 3-4 pairs of leaves.
The next pruning is done if the plant is growing leggy and thin. But be careful not to cut too low especially not near the point where the new shoots are emerging from the base of the leaves.
Each time you cut, make it a little higher than the last one. This creates a staggered effect, turning one stem into many, which helps the plant become bushier by the end of the season.
3. Deadhead Frequently
Mums can produce excessive blooms, which may take away the vitality of the plant! With so many blooms, the plant won’t have sufficient resources to nourish other bits, including unopened buds. The result will be a scraggly, weak-flowered plant.
Deadheading spent blooms with scissors helps the plant send more energy to the buds that have yet to bloom, keeping your mums looking fresh.
4. Winter Prep
If you live in a colder climate, preparing your mums for winter will help them come back strong with bushier growth in the spring. After the first frost, cut back the foliage to about four inches above the ground.
Apply a layer of mulch to protect the roots from freezing temperatures.
Apart from all these things that make mums bushier, it’s important to grow them in full sun and provide eight hours of sunshine daily; this leads to more prolific and fuller growth.
