Annual Fall mums and how we got hardy mums

Wed. Aug. 21, 2019

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Annual Fall mums and how we got hardy mums

Can you believe we’re just a week and a half way from Labor Day? Wow!  The Minnesota State Fair starts tomorrow! OH my… Fall is upon us.

I love cooler temperatures but I don’t want the summer to be over yet! We’re seeing all kinds of mums appearing now at our local nurseries, big box stores and some are even showing up at gas stations! 

Mums at Eco Gardens Northfield, MN

Proven Winners has some gorgeous options outside of the typical yellow, orange and oranger! They have a pink one called Milton™ Pink Bicolor Mum. This one’s quite the looker with a line of white along the inside of the petals. Mixing this one with flowering kale would be quite stunning.

Pink bi-color by Proven Winners
Kale ‘Glamour Red’

It’s sister is Dark Pink, she’s solid pink with a bright yellow center. 

‘Dark Pink’ by Proven Winners

A sunny bright beauty is called ‘Hilo’ Tangerine.  It’s so bright you’ll need shades!

‘Tangerine Hilo’ by Proven Winners

These are all annual mums. However, there are some hardy mums and you can thank the University of Minnesota. Their mum breeding program is one of the oldest public sector breeding programs in the world and the only one in North America. The cushion habit of mums, a genetic discovery of the U mum breeders, was the basis for the University’s first plant patent, in 1977, for ‘Minngopher.’

Mum ‘Minngopher’ by Faribault Growers

In 1990, breeders inspecting field plantings found seedlings of unprecedented size. Now marketed worldwide as Mammoth™ mums, the plants produce several thousand flowers and grow to three to four feet across in the second season and thereafter.

Mammoth mum

Faribault Growers is the home of Minnesota Mums – which grow perfectly well in any part of the Upper midwest! They have a large number of mums in lots of colors and styles.