Wintering Chrysanthemums

Question: My chrysanthemums often die out during the winter. How can I handle them so as to insure getting enough new growth on them in the spring to take cuttings? What is the best way for wintering Chrysanthemums varieties?

Answer: Frequently we are asked, “How can I care for my chrysanthemums so they will live through the winter?”

If plants are old, spindly and diseased, why save them? It is better to start with fresh, healthy nursery plants bought from specialists whose business it is to raise and sell the finest varieties.

To be worth saving, plants should be clean, vigorous, free of disease and capable of producing quantities of high quality flowers in desired colors. Such plants repay an effort made to save them from the rigors of winter.

Any one, or all, of a number of reasons may cause chrysanthemums to fail to live year after year. Chief among these are extreme cold, poor drainage, raising or lifting of soil and weakness and disease.

Chrysanthemums are shallow rooted. Therefore, where very low temperatures are common, they may die from the cold. In such regions it is advisable to protect them with a winter mulch. After the ground is frozen, but before extreme cold, a 3 to 4 inch mulch of hay, straw or a similar material should be placed around the plants.

Soggy soil that holds water around roots and crowns is almost certain death to plants. But fortunately, chrysanthemums already growing in such a location may be saved if they are dug up, after their tops have been killed by frost, and carried over in a coldframe. More hazardous but successful in some instances, is the practice of setting such clumps in a sheltered location on top of the soil or on top of a compost heap and mulching around them with soil and covering with straw or hay.

As an insurance against winter’s cold, a mulch is also valuable as a protection to chrysanthemums already growing in well-drained soil. A 1- to 3-inch mulch of sand has been used with some success as has peatmoss which is more expensive but very neat-looking. In milder parts of the country evergreen boughs, placed around and not over the crowns of plants, are thought to be helpful.

In areas subject to alternate freezing and thawing some have suggested covering plants with baskets. In our area, where changes of temperature are extreme and sudden, such covers have not furnished satisfactory protection. Of the plants thus covered, a few survived but in a greatly weakened condition and the majority died.

Plants often live but one season because they lack vitality. They may have been inherently weak or may have been weakened by insects, disease, improper care or little or no food and water. If such plants do not respond to treatment they should be pulled out and burned. If carried over, it might be advisable to change their location in the garden.

Coldframe Protection Works Best

Preferred above all other methods of protecting chrysanthemums through the winter is the coldframe. After the tops are killed by frost, they are cut off and labels are tied to the short stubs left above ground. Then, the clumps are dug, with as much soil around their roots as possible, and planted in holes, previously prepared in the coldframe, or set close together on top of the soil in the frame and covered with mulch to protect any exposed roots. During very cold weather, extra cover may be put over the sashes.

Clumps should be watered well before they are dug up, after setting in the coldframe and any time during a mild spell when the soil dries out. In early spring, sashes are opened slightly during warm, sunny hours to ventilate the plants. In late April or early May, they are taken out of the frame, divided and set in the garden.

“What do I do with new shoots or suckers which come around flowering chrysanthemum plants? Pull them out?” asks the gardener. “Rejoice!” reply the experts, “and cherish each new shoot for it will make a new plant when set out separately next spring.”

Further, we have found that varieties which send out underground shoots or stolons are much more likely to live over than those which do not.

Making cuttings late in the season to carry over for the next year is a good suggestion. This may be a good idea for those who live where no severe winter injury occurs but for much of the country, especially the East and North, such a practice is a gamble according to the experts.

These are a few suggestions. The best means of carrying chrysanthemums safely through the winter are learned by experience and differ with each locality. Then, because nature is so infinitely various, all methods may prove helpful some years and all, or almost all, fail other years.

by C Seekman

Related Articles Of Interest:

• Chrysanthemums and Insect Pests
• Hardy Chrysanthemums
• Pruning Chrysanthemums For Fullness and Future Flowers
• Hardy Chrysanthemum Plants For Autumn Color