Will My Store-Bought Potted Mums Come Back Every Year?

Potted chrysanthemums are a classic porch decoration that shoppers look forward to every fall. While it's hard to resist buying up dozens of colorful mums to line your porch, one question might stop you from blowing your budget on these plants: Can they regrow year after year? Generally, if you're purchasing a potted mum, the answer is no — but there is a solution that will let you grow perennial mums.

The potted mums you see at stores like Home Depot or Trader Joe's are grown for one thing: decoration. These types of mums are called florist's mums, because they're grown in a greenhouse and forced to flower. This way, they're ready to sell as soon as September arrives. These conditions make for beautiful and timely blooms, but they also mean that once your plant's flowers fall, it will eventually die, because it spent all its energy on blooming rather than growing its roots. 

There's nothing wrong with grabbing a potted mum knowing that it will die at the end of the season. After all, potted mums are affordable, easy to decorate with, and make for a great fall gift. Their blooms can last up to eight weeks, especially if you help your mum's blooms last longer by repotting it. Once its flowers are spent, you can add it to your compost pile and reuse the pot for another plant. But if you'd rather have a mum that can bloom year after year, you should look for garden mums. These plants are sold as perennials, so they grow back each year. They typically live for around four years, giving you a longer period of enjoyment. 

If you decide you'd rather enjoy your chrysanthemum plant for years to come, garden mums are what you should choose. They're ideal for planting in USDA hardiness zones 5 to 9. Care for your mums by planting them in the spring, choosing a spot that receives at least six hours of sunlight per day, and ensure their soil is consistently moist. To keep them compact, prune them throughout the spring growing season until July. If you want your mums to return each year, be sure to mulch them before winter.

Much like florist mums, garden mums come in a wide range of colors. Classic fall shades like orange, purple, yellow, and white abound; you can also find plenty of gradient colors and unique flower shapes, too. You'll also get to enjoy a similar blooming time and length with garden mums as you would with florist's mums; they, too, bloom for up to eight weeks. They commonly start blooming in early fall, though they can also bloom in late summer or late fall. 

If you still have your heart set on potted mums but want them to last for years, here's a tip. Garden mums can be planted in pots, and will still live a long time. However, you'll have to overwinter them inside, otherwise the roots will become too cold for the plant to survive. If you see someone boasting that their potted mum has lived year after year, chances are, they have a garden mum inside that pot.