Mums Galore at the Big Box Store!

When it's the "Dog Days of August" here in mid-Georgia...have you ever seen all the garden mums filling the shelves and in full bloom at the big box stores? If so, maybe you noticed how the flowers are often wilting and turning brown...unless you got there right after the truck delivered them, while they still happened to be fresh? But go back the next day, or buy some and plant them in your yard...you'll see how quickly the blooms will melt in the August heat. The reason for this is that mums are cool-season fall flowering perennials that are not supposed to bloom in the heat of summer. In cool weather, mums will bloom for a month or more. In hot weather maybe a few days.

The reason the mums at the southern big box stores are in full bloom in August is because they have them shipped in from way up North where temperatures are much cooler. In some cases, the box stores may buy mums from local growers in the South who force the plants to bloom early so stores can get an early start selling them. Either way, I highly recommend avoiding purchasing mums in August that are in full bloom. Otherwise, if you impulsively buy them, within a few days you'll be sorry you did.

So, when is the best time to plant mums in the South?

You can plant mums any time of year in the South. That being said, only one crop of fall garden mums is grown each year, during summer for fall purchasing and planting. This means most nursery and garden centers, who offer locally grown mums, only stock them in late summer through fall. These are okay to purchase and plant (even in August) but only if the plants are tightly-budded and not in bloom. Then, when cooler weather arrives they'll bloom their socks off...and for much longer.