Mums perennials?

[Harri85274]

I thought they were annuals.

[Allisyn]

Depends on where you live. I would call them tender perennials. In zone 7 and south they are pretty reliable about coming back the next year. North of zone 6 is iffy.

[Vox Humana]

They have proven reliable for me in zone 6.

[Pam - gardengal]

Crysanthemums are for the most part perennials and are typically listed as hardy to zone 5. However, they have been hybridized so radically, many cultivars are much less hardy. What are commonly sold as "garden mums" are generally treated and sold as annuals, however with mulching in fall, they will frequently overwinter with ease, specially in warmer zones. Those labeled and sold as Dendranthemum ('Clara Curtis', Mary Stoker') should be reliably perennial down to zone 5.

FWIW, many plants typically sold as "annuals" are in fact tender perennials.

pam - gardengal

[Sterling]

here in Atlanta - zone 7 - they are perennial. You can pinch out the tops until July to make them bushier - and take the pinched out parts and pot up for more plants.

My friend received a lovely florist mum last spr> I thought they were annuals.

[David Hill]

Chrysanthemum plants sold to produce what you may call florist flowers, spray and bloom as well as "Garden mums" are all raised from cuttings taken from the previous years stools (the old plant after the flowers have all been cut). Most growers (Unless they want to take their own cuttings) treat them as annuals.

[dr-solo]

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[Cheryl Isaak]

Sometimes.

I have had some over winter here in the more northern bits of Zone 5.

Cheryl

[B & J]

I used to raise a variety of cushion mum developed by the Univ. of Minn. that was hardy in zones 3-4. It came in a variety of colors and only froze out when there was an unusually cold, open winter. Sometimes I found that even though the roots appeared dead they would unexpectedly send up green sprouts if placed in a warm area and watered. If any of them winter killed, it was usually the white or yellow while the darker colors survived.

John

[Pam - gardengal]

[e-mail],

A plant's hardiness does not determine whether or not it is an annual - it's life cycle does. A true annual is a plant that completes it's entire life cycle - germinates from seed, grows, produces flowers and sets seed, then dies - in a single growing season. Many of the plants that are commonly considered 'annuals' in colder, northern climates are fully perennial in warmer climates and will come back year after year.

[Cereus-validus]

I thoughts mumms was a brand of wine!!!