STOP Throwing Away Your Fall Mums

I was out for my predawn walk with the dog (a beagle named Daisy) this morning and I noticed a lot of folks are throwing away their decorative fall mums. Listen up folks ... the flowers die back but the plant is very much alive. If you put the plant in the ground it will come up next year even bigger! Every Fall it's the same thing ... trashcans full of healthy plants ... what a waste! (Bad karma!) It makes me sad to see those perfectly healthy plants in the trash cans. I admit that in the past I've rescued mums from curbsides before the garbage truck has come. I've planted them and I've had awesome gardens that would come back every year. But I have no room to rescue any more.

Anyways, that's my morning rant. Seeing all those healthy plants being tossed in the trash each fall for no good reason makes me sad.

When do they come back? I left some in last year and they failed to come back. Do they come back in the spring or are they just green bushes until fall?

a reply to: grandmakdw
Plant them in a sunny place. They will come up and be totally green until mid August when they'll start to bloom and stay in bloom until Halloween (Depending on where you live.)

I don't have any mums, but that is nice to know! It's good to make people aware and save the lives of many beautiful plants.

originally posted by: Night Star
I don't have any mums, ...

Not to be strange or anything but take a look around and if you see neighbors with mums in pots that are dying back and they plan on being rid of them, you can rescue them and plant them now in a sunny patch. You'll have an awesome FREE garden next year. (and think of the good karma! YAY!)

Sometimes garden centers and stores will toss them out at the end of the season (which is now). It doesn't hurt to ask. You never know.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I know! Right?

Wife plants them each year.

Expensive little buggers to just throw out.

Great thread. Nice to let others know. Supper easy to replant and they grow like a weed.

I agree! Those mums are just going dormant for alittle bit. My friends are always amazed that I keep my mums alive, and comment on my green thumb....and then I explain to them, they are not dead, and will come back ....suddenly my green thumb isn't so green anymore to them.

On another note...this is the first year I have not had Mums, as we just moved and not sure how they would do here because of extreme heat all year, and the ground is not really dirt, it's mostly cap rock....but I have been seeing them in Home Depot and stores. Maybe I'll start walking around the neighbor hood and dumpster diving ! ( I am not afraid to dumpster dive!) .

a reply to: FlyersFan

Its always upset me as well....im an avid gardener...I buy seeds and reep them from my garden for the next year...same with storing bulbs...its almost like its become forgotten knowlage, people just throw it away and rebuy the next year, seeds arent cheap, nor are bulbs...

(Live) Christmas trees annoy me as well have people also forgotten how to compost? Better then it going into a landfill

a reply to: FlyersFan

I couldn't agree more.

Throwing vegetables in the trash is a waste considering how useful they are. A small compost container is a fantastic tool for creating one of natures greatest engineers-the earthworm.

originally posted by: Meldionne1
Maybe I'll start walking around the neighbor hood and dumpster diving ! ( I am not afraid to dumpster dive!) .

Today was trash day in our neighborhood. The trash cans had bunches sitting next to them. I would have rescued them but I have no room left for orphan mums that I've rescued in the fall time. The stores toss them out as well. Easy to find. VERY SAD. I don't know why I feel bad for plants like this but I can't help it. It's such a freak'n waste!!

a reply to: FlyersFan

Collect all you can, sell them for charity, people will buy them if you pick the right charity and be more happy to donate them in future rather than trash them.

Idea?