Mums are fall’s favorite plant, especially in central Illinois. Often used as a staple for festive autumn front porch transformations, they come in a variety of stunning and bold colors, and are relatively easy to care for.
Julie Carlson knows about caring for mums. As the Annuals and Perennials Manager at Country Arbors Nursery in Urbana, she has been helping people pick out their mums in the fall for more than 14 years, giving advice for best care practices when it comes to keeping mums blooming long and strong during the season.
Julie says the key to mum care is simple and similar to other basic plant care: having the correct amount of water, sunlight, and fertilizing.
Her best mum care tips for optimal success include:
1) Water mums daily and water at the base of the plant.
2) Grow mums in full sun. Mums can tolerate some shade but more sun equals more blooms.
3) Fertilize before the mums bloom. Fertilize weekly, but after mum blooms are broken, stop.
One question Julie often gets asked about is deadheading or pinching the blooms. She says when your mums start looking droopy it’s time to go ahead and deadhead. “Don’t wait for your blooms to completely wilt; when they start showing signs of droop, that’s the time to deadhead,” she says.
Julie recommends removing droopy blooms by cutting the flowers just below the flower head, and avoiding cutting deeply into the plant. Deadheading can be done about once a week or when there are many faded blooms. She also warns against removing healthy buds and making sure you keep the healthy foliage to support the other flowers.
Julie has been instrumental in making Country Arbors Nursery have some of the largest mums in the Champaign-Urbana area, and she says this year will be no different. She and her team spent the summer growing the mums in the back area of the nursery’s property, navigating ever-changing weather (from extreme heat to severe conditions), but the end result was well worth it.
This season, the nursery team grew 14,000 three gallon mums, around 3,000 six inch mums, and 800 five gallon mums. Country Arbors also has a variety of mums called “mumbos” which is a three color combination and are a fan favorite in the C-U area.
With mum season well under way, the nursery has had hundreds of locals already stop by to pick up fall mums in their favorite colors. With a little care and diligence, Julie says that mums can thrive and continue to be a tradition of bringing fall colors to any home.
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