MINNEAPOLIS - One of the hidden treasures that the University of Minnesota is responsible for are Minnesota Hardy Mums. This time of year there are so many mums that you see everywhere that are nice but when the season winds down you take them from their spot in the pot, on the steps, or the deck and throw them away.
The Minnesota hardy mums are perennials that you could go ahead and plant and enjoy for years to come. Dr. Neil Andersen from the U of M tells me that the first hardy mum for Minnesota called "Duluth" was introduced in 1939. Since then more than 100 cultivars have been released.
Best practices for growing superior hardy mums: full sun, fertilize!, mulch year-round for best winter survival do not prune back until spring. This way the old stems after they are done flowering in the fall will act as a snow fence to catch snow in years when snow cover is sparse.
Some of the most popular are the MammothTM series they grow as large shrub types are very hardy.
This season you could find them on pinterest.
Locally Tonkadale Nursery and Dundee Nursery had them.
I want to thank Becky Sundberg from Foliage Design Systems who put our beautiful fall pots together with the Minnesota Mums for the Gopher Coaches.
Coach Pitino and Coach Stollings were great sports and I hope they like their Minnesota Mums! They start their practices this week.
Go Gophers! Here is link to their schedules of games!
