Mums are perennials. At least the kind that you are thinking of. There are some annual chrysanthemums, but I'm not familiar with them. Depending upon your location, you can buy any mum and expect it to live outside quite happily. It is probably more difficult for folks in colder climates to plant those fancy florist mums, but even those can be acclimated nicely outside in warmer areas.

Mums are inexpensive because they are SO easy to mass produce. Mums have been as inexpensive as annuals for quite some time, so much so that people often use them as annuals in their plant beds.

Now I know that if I take good care of it, it may survive my winter!

Thanks!

If you have picked a place you want to plant your mums outside, you can plant them any time in your zone except in the dead of winter. Keep them watered well for a couple of weeks when you bed them.

I live a couple of zones north of you in Texas, and it is just now too late to put mums out here. We bedded two dozen (in full bloom) five weeks ago to fill in between hollies until the hollies are big enough to fill the spaces. As soon as the blooms died, I trimmed them back. They are growing very well and are blooming again.

You can usually overwinter mums, but they will tend to grow taller and with fewer blooms next fall unless you are diligent in pinching the stems.

Due to the work involved, many people choose to treat them like annuals.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Mums

I bought white mums from home depot about a month ago and they are starting to turn a purple white color. Are they dying they are not brown. What is causing this and is this unusual.

It sounds like they're turning their "mature" color, especially if the flowers are bigger than they were when you bought the plants.

When the flowers die, they do turn a brownish color.

Then you snip them off to encourage the plant to make more flowers.

We just bought our mums at Lowe's a couple of weeks ago - some of them are still in VERY large green plastic pots and we've kept them all potted, rotating them on and off our porch and deck. Can I keep them potted for the winter? Thanks for your help!

I'm several zones south of you, but I'd guess you can keep them in pots as long as you protect them from hard freezes.

When I'm overwintering plants in pots, I try to make sure they're in larger pots so that their roots don't get crowded & so that the soil provides a little extra insulation.

I also like to group a lot of pots close together & pile up mulch around them for additional insulation.

Water is a good insulator, too;
when a hard freeze is due here, I water everything thoroughly.

& I try to remember that sometimes you do everything right & the plant dies, & sometimes you do everything wrong & the plant lives.

Best luck, & have fun!

I live in southern Illonois. I have planted myums this year and they are doing well so far. I have never had much luck with them before, I would contribute that to lack of watering and lack of knowledge. My question is.... at the end of fall when the mums are finnished blooming and the frost has taken its toll, do you mow off the mum? Do u mow them off in the spring? Any and all maintenance tips are very welcome. Thank you very much. Crystal