Mums are ready for their fall performance

Few things say autumn in the Oklahoma garden like chrysanthemums or hardy mums in flower. They offer beautiful mounds of color to liven up our fall gardens.

We traditionally think of mums with the season of football, cool relaxing evenings on the patio, or time spent by an outdoor fireplace or chimenea.

There are two basic kinds of mums, the annual varieties, often grown as pot mums and used to decorate our inside living space, to gift to friends when we visit or to send to shut-ins. The annuals can grow and flower outside but will freeze and die with the first hard freeze. The second are the perennial or hardy mum varieties widely available now at your local greenhouse or nursery and are probably in bud or just showing color.

This is a good time to purchase hardy mums so you can enjoy their full fall flower show. Hardy garden mums can survive winter in the ground and will usually come back next spring and bloom again next fall.

Although hardy mums do well planted out in the spring, they are usually harder to find in the spring and are widely available in the fall when we have them on our mind and can see them and select them with buds and flowers.

Chrysanthemums, or the new botanical classification of dendranthema, are available in many flower styles and flower sizes in a multitude of colors. Choose from white, red, purple, pink, burgundy and the popular fall colors of orange, yellow and bronze to add pizzazz to your fall garden.

PROVIDED BY RODD MOESEL Cushion garden mums bursting out in fall colors at Precure Nursery as they get ready for sale to Oklahoma gardeners ready to beautify their yard with these hardy perennials.