Marilyn’s Garden Musings

By Marilyn Rasmussen, Master Gardener

“Of aster and golden-rod, tilled by the rain and sunshine, and sown by the hand of God.” Bliss Carman

Oh, the ephemeral beauty of the fall flowers! The extreme heat of summer has abated and the flowers that struggled to hang on during the worst of summer weather have perked up and are blooming in full profusion. Yes, asters and (wild) golden-rod, marigolds and zinnias are a few of the most beautiful blooms at this time of year (can frost be far away?).

Of course, the quintessential autumn flowers are the chrysanthemums. They come in a variety of flower shapes such as the decorative double with overlapping rows of petals, the daisy shape, and the spoon shape (similar to daisies but with the inner part of the petal rolled). Most often referred to as just mums they come in almost every color except blue. In the fall you will find them for sale at many different places but if you want hardy mums that return perennially they should be planted in the spring so they have time to develop a strong room system. Plant them in full sun in well-drained soil, trim off any flowers that were blooming when you bought them, feed them with a 10-10-10 fertilizer in the spring and again when you see new buds forming but stop feeding at mid-August. If you want your mums to develop that neat cushion effect that gives them their classic shape you must “pinch” them back once or twice during the growing season until around the fourth of July. You can do this with garden shears, cutting off the tops of the stems even if they have buds on them. This will cause more branches to grow from the cut ends and more flowers to form on each stem.

It’s best to leave the spent plants standing through the winter and loosely mulched. In spring after the danger of frost has passed uncover the green crown and cut the old stems off and watch the new chrysanthemums grow. Then repeat the process.

Remember, “Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.” Thomas Fuller