My pride and Joy, my glorious Mum, is about to bloom. It is in a pot, a huge pot. It is about 4 feet in diameter and stands 2.5 feet high in foliage - at least. It's my baby!
This tremendous Mum plant is two years old now. My youngest son and I have this running discussion about whether Mums are annuals or perennials. We're both right.
My other Mums are doing great, they are such easy plants to grow. Water, sunshine, a bit of food, and pinch 'em back till late summer. They spread out nicely, get bushy with the pinching back and then they are full and their blooms are impressive!
My boys all got their love of gardening from me. So funny, since they bitched up a storm about weeding, mowing, planting, as teenagers, but then that's the nature of the beast, eh? Teenagers moan about EVERYTHING that's not their idea!
Now my boys have neatly trimmed yards with shaped shrubs and trees. One son, my baby boy, loves flowers. He plants roses, mums and all sorts of flowering plants. I am so proud!
My girls? They still prefer their flowers delivered! LOL My baby girl like me to do her container gardening for her and that suits me just fine - more to garden! She does have a mighty impressive aloe plant she's grown though.
Yup, definitely Fall when my Mums bloom so big and bright!
It's getting time to clean the garden beds of spent plants and blooms, rake away the refuse of foliage. I still have some straggling herbs, and my Sweet Potato Vines are barely slowing down. So I'll tread carefully while cleaning up in the beds. My Coleus and Colocasias are going strong as well. And the Mums, well, it's definitely their time to shine! Coleus make a pretty background accompaniment for Mums, as do Sweet Potato Vines. I love love love the purple vines!
You'll want to cover your plants that are from tubers, lightly with straw, to over winter. Don't have to do this until October in my area, but be sure to keep ground watered even though the foliage is gone or they will dry to dusty buggers under the soil!
I cover my mums with straw after they bloom but that's not for quite a while in my region so more about that later.
I have collected my sunflowers seeds to plant next year.
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