I think I'm mum stupid.

Ombligo1

If I live in NEPA (zone 5-6), and I buy potted mums...when do I have to bring them in?  Can they just live in the pots?  Why does everyone want to make me plant them the next year?  I just want mums.  In pots.  Outside.

Something is not connecting.  Some places tell me they can just live outside.  Some places tell me I have to bring them in.  Everyone wants me to plant them.

alliapistor

If you just want them in pots for one season - do that.  Keep them outside in pots until they die and then get rid of them. 

In many zones, they are perennials though.  So you can plant them after they die off in late fall and they will come back the following year.  I planted mine last year after the flowers were gone but before frost and they came back this year. 

Ombligo1

But I don't want to plant them.  I want them in pots.  For years.

another KT

If you are able to overwinter then indoors, they are unlikely to look as good in subsequent years (they have come from a commercial growing operation with the exact amount of light, heat, water, fertilizers, pesticides, and herbidies to make them look like plants on steroids).  I think it would be tough to tranisition them to indoor living because it will be cold outside in the fall and you will be shocking them with the warm indoor environment.  For the best tranisition you would move them indoors when the outdoor and indoor temperatures are comparable.  If you want to keep them outside for as long as possible just make sure you bring them inside before the soil freezes.

patty78

I planted mine in pots and left them outside. They came back the following year but this year they didn't come back.  They stayed outside all winter.

~NB~

*Ombligo*:

But I don't want to plant them.  I want them in pots.  For years.

Tall order. The typical, potted, seasonal mums (florist mums) may not be hardy for you; it depends where you live and what species/cultivar you happen to select.

The further north you are, the fewer hardy varieties you will have to select from. You would have to know exactly what kind of mum it is (I mean genus, species, and cultivar if applicable). In most cases, the consumer has NO WAY of knowing this (neither does the retailer) because they aren't labeled.

You should also know that hardy mums may look very different than what you'd expect. Cold hardy varieties frequently have very small flowers. They might seem plain looking or ugly to you, and look nothing like the florist mums you see for sale everywhere. Hardy mums also develop stolons underground. It's a survival mechanism. If they live in a pot "for years" they can't do this; they'd need to be in ground.

lmdbww

I live in E. PA (zone 6). I have a bunch of mums in my flowerbeds and in my experience, they grow way too big, too fast, to be able to keep them in pots "for many years". We've been in our house now for 7.5 years and i've had to dig up my mums every single year and get rid of at least half of each plant to keep them a manageable size.  This spring alone I dug all of them up and ended up throwing 2 whole garbage cans full of sections away, and they are still growing up huge out of the ground.

Unless you are prepared to repot them into larger pots after a year or so, then maybe it would work. Bring them in after the blooms die off and cut the stems down to the level of the top of the soil in the pot. If they dont come back next year, then just buy new ones I guess.

mmremshard

I'm in South Jersey and I have the same issue as previous poster. We moved into our house last year and there was this HUGE mum in the ground. I split it into four different mums and replanted it. Now each of them is huge and I'm going to do the same thing again in the spring this year. I love the look of them all over the garden in fall/winter.