Cleome Spider Flower – How To Grow Cleome

Image by joloei

By Becca Badgett
(Co-author of How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden)

Growing cleomes (Cleomes spp.) is a simple and rewarding garden adventure. Planting cleomes is often necessary only once, as this attractive annual flower re-seeds prolifically and returns year after year. Seed pods may be removed before bursting for use in planting cleomes in other areas of the flower bed and garden.

How to Grow Cleome

Growing cleomes is most easily done by planting seeds in the chosen location. Most any location is appropriate as cleomes will grow and produce the cleome “spider” flower in full sun to part shade locations and do not need any particular type of soil, other than well draining.

Seeds may be started inside; however, a complicated schedule of lighting, temperature fluctuation and bottom heat is required for indoor germination and is usually not worth the effort of the regular gardener. Be aware as well that older cleome plant cultivars are sometimes difficult to transplant and may wither away, never to return if you try transplanting them.

Planting cleomes from seed usually results in a vigorous display of the tall, fragrant cleome spider flower. Newer cultivars, some in dwarf varieties of the cleome plant, have no fragrance and do not produce next year’s flowers as seeds are sterile. Older varieties of the cleome plant are useful as background plants for shorter, sun loving flowers and as stand alone specimens when planting cleomes in masses.

What to Expect When Planting Cleomes

The cleome spider flower, sometimes called spider leg or spider flower, is so named for its tall, leggy appearance and the shape of its leaves. Flowers of the cleome plant are intricate, large and showy. They may be bi-colored in pink or lilac colors with white or they may be only one of these colors.

Flowers of the cleome plant bloom in summer and may last until frost occurs. Once established, they are drought tolerant and hold up well during summer’s scorching heat. Deadheading of spent flowers encourages longer bloom time.

Planting cleomes in the vegetable garden helps attract beneficial insects and may deter some of the bad bugs which damage crops. Now that you’ve learned how to grow cleomes, you may find them a welcome addition to your garden or flower bed.

Overwintering Mums – How To Winterize Mums

Image by dpenn

By Heather Rhoades

Overwintering mums is possible. Because many people think that mums (formally called Chrysanthemums) are at best a finicky perennial, many gardeners treat them as annuals. But, this does not have to be the case. With just a little winter care for mums, these fall beauties can come back year after year. Keep reading to learn more about how to winterize mums.

Winter Care for Mums

The steps for wintering mums start when you plant them. Make sure that you plant your mums in well draining soil. In many cases, it is not the cold that kills mums, but rather the ice that forms around the mums roots if they are planted in soil that collects water. Well draining soil is essential to successfully overwintering mums.

When planting your mums, also consider planting them in a somewhat sheltered location where they will not be exposed to winter winds which can decrease their chances of surviving the winter.

The next step in winter care for mums is to properly insulate them in the fall. The leaves of the plant will die back and become brown after a few hard frosts have hit your area. After the foliage of the plant has died back, you will need to cut it back. Cut back the stems of the mums to 3-4 inches above the ground. Leaving a little bit of the stems will ensure that next year you have a full plant as the new stems will grow from these trimmed stems. If you cut the mums back to the ground, fewer stems will grow next year.

After this, when wintering mums, it is best to provide a heavy layer of mulch over the plant after the ground has frozen. The mulch for winterizing mums can be straw or leaves. This layer of mulch helps to keep the ground insulated. Interestingly, the idea is to help prevent the ground from thawing during the winter during warm spells. When the ground freezes and thaws and freezes again, this causes more damage to the plant than if it simply stays frozen for the whole winter season.

With these few steps, you can provide the kind of winter care for mums that will increases the chances that these lovely flowers will make it through the cold weather and reward you with lovely blooms again next year. Knowing how to winterize mums will not only save your mums, but will save your money too because you will not have to buy new plants each year.

Propagating Mums: Growing Mums From Cuttings And Seeds

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By Bonnie L. Grant

Chrysanthemums are one of the heralds of fall although they are also produced for spring blooming. The flowers come in all the hues of the harvest and echo the changing leaf colors. Mums, as they are commonly called, are easy to grow and can be propagated by a variety of ways. Propagating mums can be from seed, started from division or even from cuttings. With so many ways to propagate it is easy to learn how to start mums.

Easy Mum Propagation Through Division

Propagating mums is fast and easy when done through division. Mums benefit from division every three to four years to enhance the form and flowering of the plant. This is done in spring and yields a spare plant or two. The centers of mums can begin to get leggy and may even die out when they get older.

In spring when the mum begins to show signs of sprouting, dig out the entire root ball of the plant. Use a sharp soil knife or spade and use it to cut the root ball into 3 to 5 sections. Each one of these sections can be planted to make a new chrysanthemum.

Planting Mum Seeds

You never know what you will get when you plant mum seeds. They will bloom the first year after planting but may not be true to the parent plant. Growing from mum seeds is easy and can prove quite an adventure due to the uncertainty of the type of bloom.

Because of the long growing season required for mum seeds, it is best to start them indoors six to eight weeks before the date of the last frost or sow the seed in spring in a well prepared bed. Cover them lightly with mulch and keep the bed evenly moist. Transplant the mums when they are 6 to 8 inches high.

Growing Mums from Cuttings

Cuttings are how to start mums for quick blooming plants. Cuttings produce the fastest mum plants, which will bloom within months. Spring or summer is the best time to take cuttings for mum propagation.

Use a sharp sterile knife to remove a 2- to 3-inch section of new growth at the end of a stem. Pull of the leaves on the bottom 1 inch of the cutting and insert it into peat moss or perlite. The cutting must always be moist but not soggy. It will root within a couple of weeks and then you should pinch off the top growth to encourage the new plant to form lateral growth.

Propagating mums is a task that you can enjoy as a home gardener. The variety of means for reproduction means you just have to decide how to start mums. Chrysanthemums make excellent potted plants for special occasion gifts or as perennials in the garden bed. You can bring them indoors or out for early spring or late fall color.

Growing Chrysanthemum Flowers: How To Care For Mums

Image by Aaron Gustafson

By Becca Badgett
(Co-author of How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden)

Chrysanthemum flowers are a classic addition to brighten the autumn garden. Growing mums is not complicated once you learn the basics of chrysanthemum care. Where you live, however, will somewhat determine how to grow chrysanthemums.

How to Grow Chrysanthemums in the Garden

Growing mums successfully in the garden first depends on choosing the right chrysanthemum flowers. Attractive florist mums are sold widely, but are not suitable for growing in the garden as they have a limited root system. Caring for potted mums is another worthwhile endeavor for the gardener should this be the case.

The right chrysanthemum flowers for your garden will come from a diverse selection of hardy or garden mums. When growing mums, you’ll find plants that are dwarf to giant, in colors from white and yellow to the deepest burgundy and purple. Some cultivars bloom in late summer, while others bloom as late as October.

Plant your hardy chrysanthemums in spring in northern areas, as they are more likely to survive the winter once established. In southern areas, mums may be planted in either spring or autumn, though fall offers the greatest benefit of avoiding summer heat.

In all areas, chrysanthemum flowers should be planted in well-draining soil. When learning how to grow chrysanthemums, you’ll find they’re adaptable to soil types, but do best in organic soils.

Mums also prefer a sunny spot in the landscape. Chrysanthemums will grow in partial shade, but may get leggy when reaching for sunlight. Shade grown plants will have weaker stems and exhibit less flowering.

Chrysanthemum Care

After following these growing suggestions, you’ll want to practice the most important technique of how to care for mums: pinching. When growing mums, this simple practice ensures the most abundant show of late summer and autumn blooms.

Begin pinching back growing mums when new growth is 4 to 6 inches, removing the stem above the second set of leaves. This directs the growth downward and ensures your chrysanthemum flowers don’t bloom too early. Continue pinching new growth on all shoots through June. This plant material may also be rooted ascuttings for additional mums for the garden. Some of the newer chrysanthemum cultivars do not need pinching, but most benefit from the practice.

Other tips on how to care for mums include fertilizing in spring with a time release fertilizer and planting them far enough apart that the plants get good air circulation. Also plant mums where they are somewhat protected from windy conditions, as in a bed sheltered by a building. A heavy layer of fall mulch is appropriate chrysanthemum care in areas that experience winter freezing.

Indoor Mum Care: Growing Chrysanthemums Indoors

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By Bonnie L. Grant

Chrysanthemums are common gift plants and can be found as such year around. This is because they have been tricked into blooming by either hormones or manipulation of light exposure. Chrysanthemum houseplants require lower light to force blooms. They can be quite difficult to get to re-bloom in an interior setting but in warmer climes should be planted outside where they can get the appropriate lighting and resume their normal bloom schedule.

Potted mums are not the same as the hardy varieties that go into garden beds. They are more sensitive to cold and light changes, but you can find them any time of the year and bloom for several weeks in the home interior. Growing chrysanthemums indoors is easy and requires little special care beyond watering, good soil and drainage. Once the blooms are spent, you can keep the plant around for its deeply etched foliage.

How to Grow Mums Indoors

Mums are generally ready for interior growth at purchase. If the plant is pot bound, you can transplant it to a slightly bigger container, with good drainage holes and fresh houseplant soil. An important tip on how to grow mums indoors is to position your plant inside where it receives bright light during the day but isn’t under a street or security light at night. Excess lighting can throw the plant’s bloom production off and cause it to stop flowering.

Regular watering is a crucial part of indoor mum care. Water the plant from under the leaves to help prevent fungal issues when caring for container mums. Deadhead if you wish, to keep the plant looking its best. Keep chrysanthemum houseplants where they can receive good air circulation and avoid excess humidity.

In most cases, caring for container mums is a short lived project. This is because they flower for 3 to 4 weeks and then stop. Indoor conditions are not correct to force them to re-bloom and creating the correct conditions is a pain in the neck. For this reason, most indoor gardeners simply compost the plants after they are done flowering. This may seem heartless, but mums are relatively inexpensive and very easy to find.

The plant doesn’t have much to offer after the flowers are done except some deeply notched foliage and a nice little bush shape. During the time you have it in your home, it shouldn’t need feeding. If you wish to keep the plant around, do fertilize it in the growing season once per month with a soluble plant food and suspend feeding in the winter season.

Can You Keep Mums Inside Over Winter?

Obviously growing chrysanthemums indoors is possible, but the real question is will it flourish and bloom and, if not, what do we do with the plant? Each mum cultivar is slightly different but on average it takes 9 ½ hours to force buds and 10 ½ hours for flowers to form. Add to this a requirement of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 C.) for bud formation and 55 F. (12 C.) for flower development. Most households do not have the cooler temperature available nor do they want to live in the dark that long.

You can successfully keep a mum around the home all year long if you wish with very little attention beyond watering. A better option for anyone in temperate to warm zones (USDA zones 8 and above) is to plant the mum in the ground. The indoor plants are not terribly hardy but if you mulch the root zone the plant will probably live, re-sprout in spring and bloom in fall as an outdoor specimen.

Care Of Cigar Plant: Tips For Growing Cigar Plants In Gardens

Image by scott.zona

By Becca Badgett (Co-author of How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden)

Cigar plant care (Cuphea ignea) is not complicated and the returning blooms make it a fun little shrub to grow in the garden. Let’s take a look at the ease and rewards of growing cigar plants in your landscape.

What is a Cigar Plant?

You may be wondering, just what is a cigar plant? An annual in most U.S. zones, the cigar plant flower is a tender perennial in other places and is sometimes called firecracker plant. It is a small, multi-stemmed shrub with prolific red blooms that seem to burst like fireworks.

These small red flowers have black and white lips and a tubular shape similar to that of a cigar. The white rim gives the appearance of the cigar being lit, hence the common name. The cigar plant flower grows in USDA Hardiness zones 9b-12 year round, but can grow as an annual in other U.S. areas.

When growing cigar plants as an annual in cooler zones, the blooms appear in summer. In the more tropical areas where it is hardy, cigar plants bloom off and on all year round.

Growing Cigar Plants

Botanically called Cuphea ignea, cigar plant flowers bloom in full sun to partial shade. The small cigar plant shrub usually reaches no more than 24 inches in height, although some cigar plant info says it can reach a height and spread of up to 3 feet. It generally remains in a neat, mounded clump. The attractive plant alsoentices hummingbirds to the garden.

Cigar Plant Flower Care

Cigar plant care includes growing cigar plants in the right kind of soil and keeping them watered well. You’ll be rewarded with abundant blooms from the properly located plant. Growing cigar plants need light and average soil that drains well. While somewhat drought resistant, cigar plant performs best when it is watered regularly.

Care of cigar plant often includes the pinching of leggy stems during the growing season. An occasional grooming in the care of cigar plants helps them maintain their rounded, attractive form. When growing this plant in cooler zones in a container, try caring for cigar plant indoors during the winter.

Now that you know what a cigar plant is, think of starting a cigar plant for flowers in your landscape. Look for seeds online or at specialty plant outlets. If you know somebody who already has this plant, try starting one from a small cutting. Care of cigar plant is minimal, no pests or diseases are common.