How to Winterize Mum Flowers

Chrysanthemums, or simply mums, are a late-summer, early-fall flower, with white, orange or yellow blooms that make you think of harvest times. The flowers need a little help to survive a cold winter, so they can continue to grow and produce blossoms the next year. Winterizing your mum flowers can be accomplished in a number of ways, depending on the severity of your winters, as well as your space considerations.

Mulch
Cold frame
Soil
Plastic sheeting
Flower pots

Instructions

- 1
  Mulch your mums well to prepare them for the long winter ahead. The Iowa State University Extension suggests placing mulch around the plants after the flowers have been exposed to some dips in the temperature without cutting back the flowers first. Use a few inches' worth of commercial mulching products, straw or pine needles for the best protection.
- 2
  Protect your mum flowers with a cold frame structure. A cold frame is a wooden box that is higher in the back than in the front -- approximately 18 inches in back to 12 inches on the sides and front -- and provides more warmth than the cold ground. After your chrysanthemums have finished blooming, dig them up from the roots and place them in the cold frame with new soil and mulch.
- 3
  Cover your cold frame or mums that are still planted in the ground with plastic sheeting. The plastic offers some insulation against the cold and wind of winter.
- 4
  Bring more delicate mums into the house. Choose some rooted suckers from the base of the mum plant -- cuttings from the plant that are still attached to its roots in the ground -- and plant 2 to 3 inches deep with fresh soil in a flower pot to keep in your home during the winter. If your outdoor plants don't survive the cold, you'll have new ones to start fresh with in the spring.

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