Fall is just around the corner and it is second only to the Christmas season for decorating. Garden mums are the perfect flower to decorate porches, pots, flowers beds, and more for the colorful Fall season. How do these blooming beauties produce their flowers and why aren’t they “hardy” anymore? Read on to learn more about Fall’s favorite flower.
In the world of horticulture, garden mums are known as “short-day” plants. Short-day plants set their flowers when the day length is shorter than a critical time. Most garden mum varieties need less than 12 hours of day length in order to set buds. As the days naturally shorten after June 20 (the first day of summer), garden mums will form their buds. July 15 is the approximate date when the day length is short enough for the mums to initiate flower buds.
Bloom time in garden mums is also influenced by temperatures. Heat delay occurs in garden mums when temperatures exceed 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The exceptionally warm temperatures of summer 2016 in the mid Atlantic region has caused a delay in garden mum bloom time of 7-10 days throughout this region.
Another factor influencing garden mum bloom time is the cultivar (cultivated variety). There are hundreds garden mums cultivars for commercial greenhouses to grow. Here at Musselman Wholesale Foliage, we grow early, mid, early season extender, and late season extender cultivars so there are mums to fit the needs of our customers from August to early October. During a typical mum season, we grow between 80-90 cultivars of garden mums in five different pot sizes. Our total garden mum production is more than 26,000 pots for 2016!
Garden mums used to be called “hardy mums” implying that the plants were perennials. New garden mum cultivars are bred for color, growth habit, disease resistance, and fall bloom time. They are not as hardy as the older varieties so the popular name has been changed from hardy mum to garden mum in recent years.
As the calendar moves towards Fall, it is time to think garden mums for your Fall gardening needs!
