Mad About Mums!

As I re-enter the world outside of new granddaughter Hannah, autumn is firmly in place and things are starting to wind down in preparation for winter. I love this time of year, but things in the garden and landscape can get to looking "tired."

We have two flower boxes hanging on the front railing of our house and we finally got that railing repaired after it being damaged in the derecho. The flower boxes have been great all summer, but they were starting to look rather blah. We've had a light frost here already, so many of the plants that would normally give the front porch some character are tucked away in the greenhouse. The front porch just didn't have the oomph it had earlier in the season. (Kind of like me!)

I love mums and since Lowe's gave me a gift card to purchase some, I decided to spark up the front of the house with some color. My favorite mum color is red, so that's what I got.

By this time of year, I don't want any garden chores that require much work. Adding a bit of color this way was SO easy. I didn't even take the mums out of their pots. I simply dug a hole and sat them down in it, even in the flower boxes. (I removed most of the dying Helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight' and replaced it with the mums.)

Of course, if I'd wanted to plant them permanently and try to overwinter them, I would have needed to properly prepare the hole and get them in the ground as soon as possible, so that their roots could get established a bit before the ground freezes.

These were only $4.95 each, and I even got four of them for $1.00 each, because they were already in full bloom. With our cooler weather, those blooms have lasted a very long time.

Chrysanthemum x morifolium

Thanks to Lowe's Creative Ideas for the gift card, allowing me to extend the color season with mums! And congratulations to Kristen, who won the $50 Lowe's gift card in my recent giveaway. Thanks to all who shared their fall flower favorites!

Have you used mums in a particularly creative way?

For more ideas, visit the Lowe's Creative Ideas website.


As part of the Lowe's Creative Ideas Garden Club, I was provided with a Lowe's Gift Card to cover the cost of the mums.