Chrysanthemums in an extensive and often stunning variety of color and form, are (or will soon be) readily available at most area garden centers, greenhouses, farmers markets, supermarkets and variety stores.

When it comes to perking up late-summer and early fall landscapes, hardy mums should be the first flowers that come to mind. Characterized by their distinct odor, alternating, lobed leaves and lovely composite flowers, nothing else I can think of can dress up a fall dooryard, porch or patio like a beautiful, large pot of colorful chrysanthemum blooms – except maybe two, three, four, or more beautiful, large pots of mums of different colors. Add a pumpkin or two and some decorative gourds, maybe some grape vine, twigs, and a few ears of Indian corn and you can quickly create a simple and stylish seasonal setting that warmly welcomes family and friends to your home.

I also like to replace struggling and weary looking garden annuals with chrysanthemums, instantly turning drab, unhappy, somewhat neglected looking areas into beautifully grouped plantings of eye-catching color. A last hurrah!

While garden mums are technically perennial mum breeders, to a great extent, give color and form precedence over hardiness. Most cultivars do not reliably survive the winter, especially in the North. Planting them in the fall lessens their chance of survival because roots don’t have enough time to establish. Nonetheless, at least as far as I’m concerned, the one-time beauty they add to the late-season garden landscape makes them a bargain. They’re meant to be enjoyed while in flower and then composted.

Gardeners have been enjoying mums for thousands of years. They’re native to China, with the earliest references to them appearing in the ancient “Book of Rites” and “Book of Odes,” which were revised by Confucius during the fifth century BC. Accounts of that time acknowledge a Chinese scholar and poet, Tao Yuanming, as a gentleman farmer and successful chrysanthemum (chu) breeder whose hometown became known as the city of chrysanthemums, Chu-Hsien, after his death.

It’s widely accepted that Buddhist monks transported chrysanthemums from China to Japan, sometime in the eighth century. They were adopted as Japan’s national flower in 910, and for hundreds of years, only nobility were permitted to cultivate them. A chrysanthemum (kiku) is the central image in the crest and official seal of the Japanese emperor (the Mikado). That same chrysanthemum image can also be found on the front of Japanese passports and on the 50-yen coin. The highest-ranking Japanese knighthood bears the name “Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum.” And although there is an actual chrysanthemum throne, an ornate chair on which the emperor sits, the monarchy itself is often referred to, allegorically, as the Chrysanthemum Throne.

There are conflicting reports about when chrysanthemums were first brought to Europe, but it is widely believed that they arrived sometime in the mid to late 1700s. At that time, the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, often referred to as the Father of Taxonomy, named them chrysanthemums, from the Greek chrysos (gold) and anthos (flower). In England, Victorian florists learned to force mums to bloom out of season and, because of this, they became quite valuable.

Their history in North America extends back about 200 years, but it was not until the middle of the 19th century that serious breeding was first undertaken on this continent. University of Minnesota horticulturalists have been selecting and growing mums since the 1920s. The university’s mum breeding program, the only public mum breeding project in the country, is responsible for creating several truly winter-hardy varieties; varieties that will usually overwinter in northern gardens when covered with a protective mulch in the fall, even in growing conditions associated with USDA Zone 3 and 4. Many U of M cultivars produce a great number of rhizomes and some are day-neutral, meaning plant size, not day length, is what prompts blooming.

Their “My Favorite” hybrids are among their most winter hardy. Frost-tolerant early blooming “My Favorite” varieties include Coral, White, and Twilight Pink. “My Favorite” Autumn Red is a frost-tolerant late bloomer.

Always the skeptic, I remain unconvinced when it comes to the ability of any mum variety to reliably overwinter here, especially in the colder areas in the mountains. But, if you would like to try planting perennial chrysanthemums, I suggest talking with the folks at your local nursery and asking them to recommend perennial mums for your area. Purchase them for spring planting. Planting in the spring in a sunny location with well-drained soil, after all danger of frost has passed, will allow adequate time for them to become established.

Pinching (removing the shoot tips of) mums in spring and early summer will force the plant to produce additional shoots along the stem, resulting in more compact plants with lots of blooms. Be sure to stop pinching by mid-summer, around the Fourth of July.

Mums do not need to be cut back in the fall. Most gardeners believe that it is better to leave the foliage on until spring, mounding soil over the plants after the foliage dies. Then, once the soil mound freezes, mulch them with straw, wood chips, or evergreen needles or boughs. Keep in mind that you are mulching to keep the plants frozen, not warm.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service, 122 growers in New York state reported selling a total of more than 3 million chrysanthemum plants in 2015, with a wholesale value nearly $9 million.

One last thought. Writing this brings to mind the 1938 short story, “The Chrysanthemums,” by John Steinbeck, which appeared in his collection of short stories titled “The Long Valley.” In the story, the acclaimed American author uses caring for the beautiful flowers as a means to convey the touching account of an afternoon in the life of Elisa Allen, an enthusiastic, attractive, intelligent woman – perhaps a would-be modern-day feminist – and her controlled resignation to the constraints of the patriarchal society in which she lives.