I have grown a lot of Chrysanthemums in pots this year. Currently they are showing their true colours in an Autumn blaze of glory.

Tips for Cheap Chrysanthemums

• I bought a cheap supermarket multi pack early in the year (6 for 99p). I nipped out the growing heads and in some cases the flowers that were already showing. I potted them up individually in the cold greenhouse, then put them individually in large outdoor pots at the end of June. They were of a variety prone to self branch so I only needed to stop them blooming too early by pinching out odd flowers. They are now 10 times the size the supermarket expected.
• Chrysanthemums  root well from cuttings and some of my stock were from the pinching out. It is probably better to save the root stock this back-end and take cuttings as they start to grow in early spring.
• Pot Mums grown by nurseries for indoor flowering have usually been treated with chemicals to ‘force’the flowering. I have found them unsuitable for future propagation as they become very leggy.
• I fertilised with a general fertiliser until August when I moved on to Tomato fertiliser to encourage more flowers.
• Some darker purple varieties have tended to break stems when I brushed past or the rain was too heavy.

Ten Pot mum tips and pictures of Orange semi-double Pot mums can be seen here

For over 2000 years Chrysanthemums have been popular in China. In the west we can now enjoy thousands of varieties including pot grown Chrysanthemums (Pot mums). The chrysanthemum is a hardy or semi-hardy herbaceous perennial which flowers in a wide range of colors. The chemical treatment and cultivation tricks in the growing nurseries often mean the subsequent years of a Pot mums flowering is less uniform. For that reason it may be worth treating indoor Pot mums as annuals.

This semi double flower (above) has one or two outside rows of orange ray flowers and a yellow center or “eye”composed of disk flowers common with composite genera. ‘The chrysanthemum is a composite inflorescence with the individual flowers borne on a flat or convex receptacle called a capitulum. The capitulum is surrounded by an involucre of bracts.’

Pot Mum Tips

• Pot mums can withstand a bit of benign neglect as long as they are kept watered.
• They do not need or even like direct sunlight particularly when in flower.
• Only fertilise before the plant starts to flower.
• Remove individual flowers when they have finished.

Pot Mum Growing Tips

• Most Pot mums are grown from rooting cuttings
• Young Pot mums grow well in high humidity.
• Pot chrysanthemums require large quantities of fertilizer when in growth especially nitrogen and potassium.
• When liquid fertilization is combined with a slow-release fertilizer the pot mum may excel.
• Slow-release fertilizer should be applied to the compost surface compared to mixing with the compost.
• Terminal buds of pot mums are pinched out to develop lateral branches and increase the number of flowers on the final plant

Resources
Commercial growing tips
read more about long lasting Pot mums