Mums (Chrysanthemum morifolium) are a vividly colored shrub for the fall season, with crowded petals in colors ranging from red to yellow.
Mums grow best in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9, where they flourish in direct sunlight.
If grown in optimal conditions, these perennials burst with bright hues. In reality, the amount of light and how long it lasts each day have a direct impact on the plant’s capacity to bloom.
Do Mums Like Sun Or Shade?
The following conditions below explains if mums like sun or shade:
Minimum Sunlight Requirements
During the summer, mums take at least six hours of sunlight per day. Mums also require healthy, well-drained garden soil or potting mix for the greatest blossoms. Garden mums of all types require the same growing conditions.
The hardy garden mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium, also known as Dendranthema morifolium) grows 1 to 3 feet tall and blooms in a variety of hues. It grows in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 through 9 and, like other mums, prefers full light.
Mum cultivars occur in a variety of sizes and hues, despite having similar cultivation requirements.
Sweet Peg (Chrysanthemum ‘Sweet Peg’) is a small cultivar with pink flowers that grows 8 to 12 inches tall and is hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9.
The taller cultivar ‘Bronze Elegans’ (Chrysanthemum ‘Bronze Elegans’) reaches a length of at least 3 feet tall, possesses bronze-red flowers, and is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9.
Read also: How To Take Care Of Chrysanthemum Indoor
Effects of Too Much Shade
Mum plants in the shade do not have the same bushy look as their full-sun counterparts.
The differences between shaded and sun-drenched mums are astounding; shaded mums have lanky, withered stems, whereas sun-drenched mums have strong stems and a shrublike appearance.
The huge flowers in the fall are too much for the tall and slender mum stems to support. As a result, the plant produces few, if any, blooms, which are smaller than those produced by a conventional full-sunlight mum plant.
On shaded plants, the lack of adequate photosynthesis results in a lesser blooming plant.
Light-Triggering Blooms
The mum plant is stimulated to produce its beautiful blooms by reduced light in the fall. The longer evenings inform the plant that winter is approaching, even though it still needs full sunlight during the shorter fall days.
As the plant gets ready for a winter dormancy phase, the flowers utilize the energy created by daylight hours to burst out for pollination.
If the plant gets too much shade during the day, this last opportunity for cross-pollination will be lost.
Furthermore, if the mum is placed near a porch light or street light, the nighttime stimulating action may be hampered, and flowers may not emerge at all.
Day-Length and Flowering
The amount of light that mums get has a direct impact on when they flower. Mums are “short-day plants,” which implies they require the longer nights that come with the fall season to flower. Mums begin to form flower buds after at least 11 hours of darkness each night.
Pinch 1 inch off the stem tips once the plants are 6 to 8 inches tall and again when the new growth is 6 inches tall to help maintain moderately shaded plants compact.
Pinching will postpone blooming by a few weeks, even if performed in the late spring or early summer.
This doesn’t affect the fact that mums require full sun to develop, but it does have an impact on where you put them.
Planting mums near a street lighting or porch light will cause their bloom cycle to be disrupted, resulting in fewer flowers.
Read also: How To Take Care Of Chrysanthemum Outdoors
Watering Considerations
Wet soil consistency is required for full sun circumstances. Droughts are not accepted by mums unless they are developed.
Your mums should thrive in the sun if you maintain a well-drained soil structure and deep water them during the warmer spring and summer months.
If mums are planted in shaded areas and are overwatered or have compacted soil, they may resort to root rot.
How Long Do Potted Mums Last?
Mums in the garden can be cultivated in pots or planted in beds among other shrubs and flowers.
Flowers usually last two to three weeks, based on the temperature outside and how far along with the flowering phase the plants were at the time of purchase.
