Why Can't I Grow Mums?

The colors of autumn have arrived, and along with them the painful reminder that I have no talent for growing mums. Being born under the sign of Earth, I am an avid gardener, having completed master gardener and herbology classes. I have successfully grown everything from peanuts to horseradish to Rosemary. When it comes to growing mums, I am a failure.

This beautiful fall plant, with its large variety of colors, dates back 2,000 plus years, and over time gardeners have developed hundred of hybrid species. For hundreds of years they have been prized by Chinese gardeners. In the fall, I see them everywhere, on porches, in gardens, at grocery stores.

So why is it I can't grown and enjoy mums? Although I had seen them growing everywhere, I didn't have one until I received one as a gift from a friend a few years ago. It had yellow flowers and was displayed in a lovely brown basket with a big bow. I didn't look into how to care for it, thinking it was like other plants, so I kept it on my shady porch and watered it when the soil felt dry. Before it got too cold I moved it to my garden. It did not come back in the spring of the following year. Why had it died?

I decided to try again. I started reading some books on the care of mums and talking with nursery experts (the internet was not available back then). One expert said I probably didn't have the hardy type of mum. These are the kind that last through winter after winter. Fine; that fall I bought two purple flowered, hearty ones and planted them on either side of my sidewalk. They looked gorgeous there and I was ever so proud. I just knew these would come back in the spring. They didn't. What did I do wrong this time?