Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Mums the Word

Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Mums the Word

Like pastry shops, I stop. Everyone admires chrysanthemums mounded at virtually every market entrance. The colorful array is complex. The palette is similar, red, yellow, white, apricot, pink, and purple soon yield to the nose. All chrysanthemums are aromatic. Fall just isn’t complete without chrysanthemums. 

Like every gardener within, I like to grow my own. There are many kinds to grow and you can too. Someone will pick out a new shape or color. Perhaps the ultimate container plant, there are mums for every gardener. With a little luck and vision, mums will become permanent members of your garden lexicon. Pay attention to their need for lots of sunshine and aversion to wet feet and you’ll succeed. 

This magic formula is great for those of us who tend a couple huge pots of cheerful bright yellow Margarete each summer.  They’ll bloom despite hot dry weather and vacationing gardeners. Deadhead their fading blooms? Each stem will produce lateral growth for double and treble bloom. Best of all though, I like to plant mums directly into the ground. 

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Revered by the Chinese and the national symbol of Japan, mums can be reliable perennials. Be patient gardener friends, mums are vigorous if undistinguished throughout the growing season. When you’re busy tending the spring garden, gently rake back the winter mulch, and snip the stems at about 6 or more inches. Side stems will replace the main stem and increase bloom. Another trim in July will redouble bloom. Forget to trim? No worries, mums will bloom anyhow. They really come into their own with the advent of frost. 

If taken out of a pot, gently loosen the roots and plant in ordinary soils. Bonemeal scattered around the site and raked into the soil will help root development. Heap compost and mulch around the plants. Most of those picked up as potted plants are giving all of their energy to bloom. Protect the plants for optimum root development before winter. Or perhaps you have gardener friends who have favorites to share.

Lift and divide mums. Bloom is more abundant on new growth, gardeners with established clumps often split up and re-plant older clumps. This is the best way to share favorite varieties with friends. Very few gardeners actually destroy plants. Mums have found their way tucked into spare corners and often are moved when a careless gardener discovers they’ve dug into the patch by mistake. Serendipity and whimsy are essential elements in the truly beloved garden. 

Mums are often the last hurrah in the garden. Fall is the prime time to remove summer growth. Bury as much as possible on site. Summer mulches have disappeared. Create more. Permanent mulches have many merits. Not least is very friable soil. The more organic material incorporated into soil the better. An ever more complex ecology develops as basic food source increases.  Grass clippings and hay are fine in their season. So called “spoiled” hay is optimum for gardeners and often free for the asking. First cut hay is silage for livestock and most expensive. Ruminants digest huge amounts of silage and create yet another waste disposal, manure. Old hay is fine for gardens and manure added in the fall is virtually humus by spring. Or build compost heaps and compost manure along with kitchen scraps. Pressed for time, I conceive the garden as a gigantic compost heap and constantly add whatever organic materials are cheap and abundant. 

Mums are cheerful companions in the garden. They bring color and bright blooms into short days spent renewing mulches. Some housekeeping now will cut down on next growing season’s work. Keep an eye open for crabgrass that has somehow managed to survive. Remove the seed heads and dispose in some very deep dark place. If you dig up spring bulbs by mistake do not despair, separate any bulbs such as daffodils or tulips and replant. 

Everyone hesitates before the mounds of mums at virtually every market entrance. Savvy urban gardeners often can’t resist the urge and bring home yet another of these fall charmers. True penny pinchers stumble across entrepreneurs at flea markets. Often freshly dug the day before, local mums are adapted to our regional climate. Bring lots of small bills and lug home plenty of mums. There are no regrets among chrysanthemums, only pleasing bon mottes for crisp fall days.  

Leonard Moorehead is a life- long gardener. He practices organic-bio/dynamic gardening techniques in a side lot surrounded by city neighborhoods in Providence, RI. His adventures in composting, wood chips, manure, seaweed, hay and enormous amounts of leaves are minor distractions to the joy of cultivating the soil with flowers, herbs, vegetables, berries, and dwarf fruit tree.