Plants & Flowers
Published
May 10, 2023
Author
The Searles Gardening Team
Chrysanthemum are a plant often associated with Mother’s Day and sometimes called ‘mums’. They are a herbaceous perennial and are fantastic plants to grow in pots or in the gardens. The smell of the leaves when they are crushed give a wonderful aroma and the flowers make perfect cut flowers.
Many receive a potted chrysanthemum for Mother’s Day but are not sure what to do with it after it has finished flowering. The plant can be re-potted for future displays or planted in the garden where it will become a small shrub. A plant in the correct position can flower from late summer to autumn.
They are best suited to a full sun position in friable soil and away from the heat in hot summers or very windy areas. If repotting, use a premium potting mix, Searles Platinum Potting Mix, which contains 18 month fertiliser and excellent free draining properties. Use Searles Planting Mix for garden planting.
For best results, keep them well feed with a controlled release fertiliser, Searles Robust Flower and Garden every six months. Supplement this with a soluble instant fertiliser such as Searles Flourish Flowers & Foliage to achieve maximum flowering. Water them regularly, especially when they are in pots. Never plant them in heavy clay soil, as this will water log their roots. Improve heavy clay soil by mixing into the soil Searles Soil Improver.
To increase the size of your chrysanthemum flower, remove some of the buds when they are beginning to form. ‘Debudding’ is thinning out or reducing the number of buds produced by the chrysanthemum so the plant will put all its energy into only a few flowers left on the plant, hence they are much bigger. Less flowers, but the ones produced are massive.
Chrysanthemum are a very easy plant to grow and perfect for beginners to experts. They can last for years with very little attention, but the more you give, the more gorgeous flowers it will give you.
