Please help a girl with a black thumb out?

YouandMe912

I have a black thumb so instead of any garden, we just did planters. I filled them all with summer plants and they've done fairly well. (I don't water them as much as I should) Well, it's starting to cool off here where I live and I want to put out some Mums within the month so my question is;

Do I throw out the summer plants and use the planters for the mums?

Do I just get a couple mums and leave the summer plants until they die on their own?

Thanks for any help. Sorry if this is a silly question.

Dr.Loretta

If the summer plants are annuals, I'd keep them in the planters until the first frost (which usually kills them off) and get rid of them then. Might as well hang onto them while they still look good.

GL

MMP

I go with winter hardy pansies.  They last until the snow and return in the spring.  They look decent until May, then I tear them up and put in spring/summer annuals.

Mums are pretty, but only bloom for three weeks in my area.

 

 

nitaw

It really just depends on what you want to do!

If you're ready to plant mums and they're available at your garden center, go for it. 

I normally don't change out my plants for fall until the weather is reliably cool. Today it was like 84 here - not hot, but not quite "fall-like." It'll be back in the lower 90s next week, so I won't replace my plants until later in the month. This year, I may go ahead and buy the pansies as soon as I see them in the garden center. I'd like for them to have some warmer weather so that they can have a nice growth spurt. They always look pitiful if I put the out in mid-October because they don't have enough time to fill in. 

But, just do what ever floats your boat.

YouandMe912

Thanks ladies. Yea the ones I have are annuals. I think I'll wait it out ;-)