Q: I planted my fall mums in the ground, and now all the blooms have died and look ugly. If I want my plants to come back next year, can I cut the dead flowers off, or do I have to leave them there?
A: You may trim the dead blooms from your mums (a practice called dead heading) without having any negative impact on your plants’ overall health, but it is not a requirement.
For the best results, trim the stems back to about six inches once the leaves or stems of your plants start to die back. Then apply several inches of a very loose mulch such as straw or pine boughs to the base of the plants, which will help insulate them against the rapid temperature changes that frequently occur during Midwestern winters.
Note that garden mums that are planted earlier in the fall in an area that receives full sun with well-draining soil tend to overwinter best. For more information on how to successfully overwinter your mums, visit .
Write to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Home Gardening at plantinformation@mobot.org or the Horticulture Answer Service, 4344 Shaw Blvd., ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, MO 63110.
