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When Do Chrysanthemums Bloom in the Northeast?

Hundreds of cultivars of chrysanthemums exist, and many are grown as seasonal potted plants. Not all mums are hardy, or survive the winters outdoors in the Northeast, because of the winter temperatures and the natural cycle of freezing and thawing. However, some mums do manage to grow well for two to five years after being planted outside in the perennial border. Day length and temperature affect when garden mums bloom. Based on conditions in the Northeast, and the variety of mum, flowering can occur anytime from July until fall frost.

  1. Types

    • Chrysanthemums are grouped or described by horticulturists based on their flower form or size and their season of bloom. In the Northeast, the garden or spray mum grows outside, developing into a mound with lots of quarter-sized flowers covering the plant. Within the scores of garden mum cultivars available, they tend to bloom either early, mid- or late season based on their genetics. The first fall frosts in the Northeast occur in late September to late October depending on latitude and elevation. Usually only early and mid-season mum types bear flowers before fall frosts kill back the plants.

    Flowering Months

    • Mums bloom naturally anytime from August to November.

      Depending on chrysanthemum variety and if it's an early, mid- or late season bloomer, mum plants may bloom anytime from July to October in the Northeast. Shortening days in July and August trigger stem tips to stop leafy growth and produce flower buds. However, chilly summer nights can also trigger flower formation. If June provides a week of nighttime temperatures around 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, some early season mums may produce flower buds and open up in July. Typically, the early season mums starting flowering around mid August across the Northeast.

    Delaying Flowering

    • To a gardener, it is disappointing to find garden mums already blooming in midsummer, since chrysanthemums are heavily associated with autumn. If the mums bloom too early, no flower color graces the landscape from Labor Day to Halloween. Prevent premature flowering of mums by pinching their growth back until July 1 in northernmost areas but no later than July 15 farther south. Once stems appear in spring, pinch off new stem shoots when they grow 4 inches long, leaving a stem stub with three or four leaves. This encourages plant bushiness and more stems that produce flowers later. Pinching is needed about once every three to four weeks. Stop pinching all mums by July so that branch tips can develop flower buds later that month and then open on schedule in August or September, depending on mum cultivar.

    Hastening Flowering

    • Because late season mum varieties don't bloom until October, they are not well suited to the Northeast because of the frosts that can occur before the flowers open. To hasten the development of mum flowering, cover up plants at night starting in late July. Place an opaque black sheet over the plants at 6 p.m. and remove it the next morning at 7 a.m., according to the Oneida County Cooperative Extension in New York. Do this daily until Labor Day. The longer nights created by the nightly covering hastens flower bud development so the late season mums bloom in September and October before hard freezes.

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Flower Basics
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