Helpful tips for caring for chrysanthemum plants

Varied colours, shapes, and sizes help make chrysanthemums some of the most versatile and popular plants in the world. Here are some maintenance tips to ensure they thrive in your garden for years to come.

• Slow-release organic fertilizers like bone meal and blood meal, incorporated when planting, will nourish the soil for several months.
• Too much fertilizer promotes foliage at the expense of flowers, so diluted feeding once a week is usually best. For a diluted solution of liquid fertilizer, such as liquid seaweed or manure tea, mix it at one-half the recommended strength.
• In dry spells, a thorough weekly watering is required.
• Chrysanthemums seldom need watering after the blooms show colour.
• Overhead watering is fine in summer, but may spread mildew in fall.
• Chrysanthemums do best when the root area is covered with a mulch in order to keep down weeds and conserve moisture. Partially composted leaves, cocoa-bean hulls, or other local humus can be used.
• A combination of leaves with an overlay of no more than three centimetres (one inch) of cocoa hulls is adequate. Avoid peat moss because it can become compacted and can prevent moisture from seeping down to the roots.

Used to describe the low, cushion types, the term "hardy chrysanthemums" is somewhat misleading. Roots of all perennial chrysanthemums can withstand temperatures slightly below freezing. It is alternate freezing and thawing that causes most winterkill by lifting these shallow-rooted plants out of the ground.

• Dig up the plants after they have bloomed and store them in a cold frame or store them on the ground along the north side of a building and cover them with straw.
• Plants in very well drained soil may be left there and covered with five to 10 centimetres (two to four inches) of loose mulch after the ground freezes.

Ingenious gardeners have developed a variety of methods for supporting chrysanthemums. Plants with only a few blooms are generally supported by a steel or bamboo stake for each branch. Plastic- or paper-covered wire ties are used to fasten the stems of the plants to the stakes.

• To support chrysanthemum plants,  use metal hoops with three or four wire legs. These types of hoop are sold in most garden centres and are often used to support peonies. They are long-lasting and convenient to store because they can be folded flat. Hoops work reasonably well if the plants grow no taller than one metre (three feet).
• If an entire bed is planted with chrysanthemums, a checkerboard of strings can be stretched between supporting wires to form squares about 10 to 25 centimetres (four to 10 inches) across. The first row of strings can be positioned when the plants are about 30 centimetres (12 inches) high. As the plants grow, additional strings can be added, so that each plant is enclosed in its own square, several tiers high.

A technique called pinching involves cutting or breaking off the top centimetre (half inch) of growth. This forces the chrysanthemum plant to produce side shoots, called breaks, directly below the point of the pinch.

• All plants should be pinched when they are 15 to 20 centimetres (six to eight inches) high.
• Three breaks are usually formed after each pinch. Each break can itself be pinched after it has grown about 15 centimetres (six inches), and it may even be possible to pinch it once more.
• No pinching should take place once the plant is within 90 days of its normal bloom time.

Properly caring for chrysanthemums will help your entire garden thrive. While known for being one of the easiest perennials to care for, care and consideration is needed for them to achieve full bloom and colour.