Are Mums Perennials | A Full Explanatory Guide By Expert

Are mums perennials is a common question among plant lovers.

Whenever fall arrives each year, you smell something different in your surroundings and see something beautiful everywhere. It’s the smell of flowers and beautiful pots standing around. It’s the season when you see colorful “Chrysanthemums” flowers everywhere. It is known as the king of flowers in the fall season. These flowers are commonly known as mums, and Chrysanthemum is the botanical name of this flower. Most people are confused that either these flowers are annual or perennial. After reading this topic, you will surely learn that either they are perennial or annual.

These flowers provide wonderful colors in stores and “garden centers” throughout the autumn season. They are considered favorite flowers and grown all over the world with wonderful colors. This flower is available in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes with many variations in each type, and in winter, “mums are especially for sale.” The ending of the summer “season” starts fading of flowers, but these flowers, which come in red, gold, bronze, and various other colors, add the glimmer of colors in our gardens or front of our homes.

As you know that;

Indeed, life is lovely, and the thing which makes the world aesthetically stunning and graceful is our nature. Nobody can deny that if a person truly loves nature, he or she will find beauty everywhere. From the very start of living in this world, everything is in a constant state of change. The whole world is just in the race of streaming technology. The thing which remained the same is our nature, our forests where trees remained trees. Just living in this world is not enough for us.

We must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower to enjoy and live as we want. It’s the beauty of this nature that we connect with different seasons and the diversity of surroundings. Like summers, our life can be dry, as winters can be cold and ineffective, in spring it can be beautiful, and like falling, it can be useful for us to enter the new beginnings. 

Are Mums Perennials

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Background

• This flower is better known as mums.
• It was first discovered in the 15th-century BC in China. 
• In China, it was first grown as a flowering herb for treating headaches. They also used the leaves of these flowers in their festive drinks after brewing them. 
• In the 17th century, it was introduced in the Western world by Karl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist. 
• At first, these flowers were very small, yellow like the Daisy flowers, not as we see them today. Since then, many countries have started hybridizing these flowers and developing their various shapes and colors. Today these mums can be seen in red, yellow, green, white, orange, and bronze. In the context of shape, these flowers can be found in a pompom, a daisy, a cushion, anemone, a spider, and others.

Annual Vs. Perennial

Annual plants are short-living plants, and they die in one season. These plants complete their entire life cycle from seed to flower in a single season. Their all parts die annually except their roots, making the gap between one generation to the next. The seeds that will remain after the plant’s death will grow into a new plant in the spring. 

Perennials, on the other hand, remain for many seasons. In winter, the upper portion of these plants die, but the new “growth” appears in the spring season from the same root system. These plants can live for a longer time if they are given favorable conditions. Their lifetime is variable; some can live for 3 to 5 “weeks,” and some of them can live for three to five years. 

Types of Mums

These “mum flowers” are generally of two types. 

Florist mums: 

• “Florist mums” are also known as cutting mums, and you will mostly see the “potted florist mums” in winters everywhere.
• These flowers can be in quilled, pompon, spider, and more shapes. 
• Usually cultivated in greenhouses, these flower mums are exclusively used inside.
• These are “short-term bedding plants.” 
• They will die if you place them or grow them outside.

Garden Mums: 

These are also called “perennial” mums or hardy mums. These flowers are usually sold in large amounts in winters, and you will find their pots everywhere. More than likely, the type of mum we have is the garden mum, which is perennial. They are big, colorful flowers that survive in the cold season mostly. These flowers are much tougher than the florist ones, and their hardiness comes in “zones 5-9”. It is also a fact that mums can be hardy in zones 4 to 9, but they are less likely to survive winter conditions if it is colder.

These mums return each year and spread the glitters of different colors in the winter season. The favorite part of these flowers is that they can be saved after they die and grow year after year. These plants can have the best chance to survive when planted in the spring season to have more time to get developed before the winter season comes. You have to choose a place in the garden that has a rich “type of “soil,” and sunlight can reach there for growing them. These mums can be made more attractive by “pinching” them once or twice. 

Is Mum perennial or annual?

Chrysanthemums or mums are perennials and live for a short period, but they are often grown as annuals as we plant them earlier to grow and develop into a well-grown flower or plant. If they are hardy enough, they can also be grown as perennial, but it depends on the climate and growing conditions. If somebody wants to grow them as perennial, they have to ask for the local nurseries’ right varieties. It has also been seen that if mums are planted in spring, it helps them develop their healthy “root” system, directly impacting winters, and they can survive better. The example of perennial mums is like spider mums or football mums, and an example of annual mums is yellow daisy and painted daisy. Now we can say that mums are both perennial and annual.

Planting Mums

When planting the mums, first, choose a place where they can get sunlight and adequate water. After purchasing the plant, carefully remove it from the container, slice the root balls softly to release the roots, and then plant it in the “earth.” While doing this, you should make sure not to put it deeper in the ground.

Watering

The area with sufficient rainfall can provide an adequate amount of water to these plants, but if there is some shortage of “water,” then give them water as needed to keep the plant alive from drying and wilting.

Growing Mums

To grow the mum, it is required to keep these things under consideration. 

• Starting with the Right Place 
• The soiling should be drained well 
• Avoid the overcrowding of plants
• Keep them moist 
• Add a “one-inch mulch” layer in the soil 
• Use fertilizers
• Grow them under favorable conditions for winters 

Are Mums Perennials: FAQ Section

What mums come back every year?

Annual Mum comes back every year, and yes, they do come back after every year. All plants require care and proper attention, so it depends on how we take care of them and give those proper requirements. All plants of mum flowers should be taken care of so that their root system should be established to survive for a more extended period in winters.

It will be too late to grow their roots if you plant them in the fall season because that time is for their blooming, and they put their total energy in that not to build their roots. In the whole world, these mum flowers are commonly put in the ground in the spring season, and “flower buds” “bloom” in winters. 

How do you keep your mum over the winter? 

Before the winter season, take good care of plants and provide them with everything required to grow their root system and establish a developed plant. Leave mums outside throughout the winter months until another frost causes the leaves and blossoms to wither. Please give them the proper amount of water to remain moist during winters, and when the temperature decreases, move the plant inside to the dark area.

Can mums survive the winter in pots? 

Mums can’t survive in the very low temperature. The mums can be left in “gardens” during winters if we add a mulch layer in that area. The plants in pots can be frozen, so it is better to keep them indoors during low temperatures.

Conclusion

Whenever the fall arrives, you will see Chrysanthemums or mums everywhere and anywhere. You’ll find them at local nurseries, supermarkets and in your school gardens. They are so beautiful with different colors having different shapes that add some sparkle to our winters. Many mums have been grown in the greenhouse under favorable conditions. A suitable environment to produce many of these flowers, and these flowers are mostly considered annuals. 

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