If fall is here, mums are, too | Entertainment/Life

It seems that everywhere you look in October you see chrysanthemums blooming. Widely available and relatively inexpensive, they are almost indispensable for providing quick color to the fall landscape.

Whether you plant them into beds or feature them in containers, these cheerful plants covered in yellow, gold, bronze, purple, lavender, white, pink or burgundy flowers are a delight.

Chrysanthemums, also called mums, are hardy, long-lived perennials that bloom in the fall. Chrysanthemums are triggered to bloom only when the nights are long enough. During the summer, when days are long and nights are short, chrysanthemums in the garden grow vegetatively.

As the period of nighttime darkness increases in late summer and early fall, flower bud initiation occurs. This takes place here in Augu