Use mums as a centerpiece in a pot and enjoy them for the seasons. (C) Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp
A common question in garden centers this time of year is “will this mum come back next year?”
As with a lot in Mother Nature, the answer is “that depends.”
The mums we buy this time of year are grown as a seasonal plant, just like pansies are in spring.
If planted in a pot, just enjoy the for the season, then compost it. If the mum is newly planted in the ground, don’t cut it back until spring when you see new growth developing at the base of the plant. Cut back again a time or two between then and early July to keep the mum from getting too tall and lanky.
The best time to buy mums as perennials is spring, which is when they are hard to find at garden centers. You might consider buy mums in spring through online retailers.
Summer bulbs
October is the month we dig up the tender or tropical bulbs, such as dahlia, canna and eucomis. All of my tender bulbs are in pots, so I usually cart them – pots and all – to the basement for the winter.
Or you can remove the bulbs and tubers from the soil, brush them off and allow them to dry. Store in a cool dry place where they won’t freeze or get too warm and sprout. You can store them in mesh bags or a box with peat moss, wood shavings or shredded newspaper. Check them periodically and remove any bulb or tuber that is soft or damaged.
Fall cleanup
I’m ready to pull all of the vegetable plants out of the garden. I’ll pick any tomatoes with color or green, allow them to ripen at room temperature, slice, then freeze them. Leave the stem on the tomato during the indoor ripening process.
Unplanted hardy plants
I confess to having several perennials and shrubs that spent the summer – some of them, their second summer – in a nursery pot. My goal yet this fall is to get them planted in the bed where I pulled out the vegetables, and mulch them with shredded leaves. I will plant as many of them as possible in a more permanent location and the rest will go in the ground in spring. I remind myself the road to you know where is paved with good intentions.