Stay Connected

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Do you remember my potted mums from last fall?


These were the mums that got caught out by an early frost, and lost their blooms before giving me much of a show.

Well, I brought the potted plants indoors for the winter. I kept them watered, and in a sunny window. In spring, I pruned them, and set them back out on the deck.

All are now beginning to bloom again!


I have 2 large and 1 small potted mum. Looking good and I'm hopeful for lots of blooms. And this year, I'll try to pull them up against the house before any early frosts, to extend their bloom time.

So cool. No money spent this fall for potted mums!

(BTW, these types of mums don't over-winter in pots in my area very well. They can be planted in the ground and mulched over, to use as a tender perennial. Our winters are a bit too cold for mums to survive in a pot, outdoors.)


15 comments:

  1. So nice to save money and have pretty flowers! Your winters must be about like ours, coldest-temp-wise. Mums sometimes make it here planted in the ground, but not in pots.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      I think that you're right about our winters being similar. We're much further north, but we get some moderation from the Pacific Ocean.

      I'm thrilled to have autumn flowers at no cost, this year!

      How is the school year going, so far? Everyone back into their routines? And are you getting more time in for hiking? Wishing you well.

      Delete
  2. Very pretty! I love it when mums give you more than one year. Our heat tends to fry them. I might try them again this year if the 99 cent store has them.Have a wonderful
    Day.
    Patti

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Patti,
      ooh, that would be awesome if the 99 cents store had some mums. Hope for you that they do!

      Delete
  3. Good job saving, and giving lots of TLC!!

    I'm still trying to persuade my husband to grow nasturiums. He doesn't believe that it can be eaten, or doesn't want to eat any plant that is too beautiful, and he'll only grow what can be eaten lol Recently we planted Een Choi (Chinese Spinach Amaranth), and unlike the picture on the seed packet, the center of each leaf is a bright purple. We're not wanting to eat the beautiful leaves. The spinach plant is starting to wilt before we are able to decide how to eat it.

    Have a nice day!!

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YHF,
      here's a recipe idea for eating nasturtiums -- maybe your hubby would be interested in this?:
      http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/kitchen-assistant/10-dishes-featuring-edible-flowers/nasturtium-salad-recipe
      The blossoms are obvious in the photo, but also, they've used some of the leaves, too. Nasturtium leaves are the roundish leaves on top of that salad.
      The flowers are pretty and edible on a salad. The leaves are similar to watercress, with a peppery taste. The seed pods are also edible. You pick the seed pods, and pickle them, like capers.
      Here's another good article:
      http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Nasturtiums-in-Food
      What I love about nasturtiums, besides being pretty, all parts of the plants are edible. My neighbor always grew a large pot of them by her front door. One year, she collected seeds from her plants and gave them to a bunch of us ladies, as gifts.

      Good luck!

      Delete
    2. Thank you so much for the links, I really want to grow nasturiums in our front yard planters that now have Swiss chard and green onions growing. Our neighbor said she likes that we grow vegetables instead of flowers, and thinks that's so cool, but I still feel it is a bit strange. Fortunately we live in an area where people don't care as much about property values lol

      YHF

      Delete
    3. YHF, nasturtiums have a vining look to them, and you can add them to the front of a planter with something like Swiss chard or green onions, just an FYI. You'll get double duty out of that planter this way, and it will look more ornamental.

      Some year, you'll have to come to Seattle, and explore some of the urban neighborhoods. Many residents do vegetable gardens in the small patch of dirt between the sidewalk and the curb/street. It is beautiful in a quirky sort of way, and very trendy in Seattle.

      Delete
    4. I really miss the PNW!! I bet I won't recognize many of the cities. Portland in the late 80s was a smallish city, but not anymore, so glad we had a chance to live there.

      A vegetable plant can bring much needed greenery as any other plant, good to know it is so well accepted and trendy! The other day, my father walked past some concrete pots that he had made, saying he wanted to plant flowers, but each one had a vegetable growing. He was disappointed that his pots were being used that way. I'm sure he would be happy if we planted nasturiums.

      YHF

      Delete
  4. I have a couple of mums planted in the ground that come back every year. They've never been very vigorous, but I enjoy them all the same. Yours are very pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      that's awesome! It's probably too late for those mums of yours, as you're about to move, but in future years, you can increase the bushiness of second year mums by pinching the plant back in spring, and then again in July, for bushy blooming in fall. That may help your plants at least look more vigorous. I read the tip about pinching in July too late to do this year, but will give it a try for next year.

      Delete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

FOLLOW CREATIVE SAVV ON BLOGLOVIN'

Follow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post