Every fall, people spend gobs on money on potted mums to add a festive air to their front porches and yards for Halloween and Thanksgiving. And every fall, these potted beauties end up drying up and dying from improper care. It’s easy and simple to save mums for the following year whether they are still in the pots or planted in the ground.

Mums, like many other flowering plants, must either go dormant during the winter or remain in temperatures above 60 degrees. If you choose to keep a mum green and alive through the winter, you will need to be watering it every day. The soil must be moist. The plant needs to be protected inside with plenty of light (12 hours a day), preferably in a greenhouse with regulated temperature and light. It is possible to confuse plants so be consistent in the plant’s care.

If you choose to winter your mums by letting them go dormant, life just got a little easier for you. Choose your spot to plant your mums, dig your hole and add some all-purpose fertilizer. Place the plant inside the hole and water thoroughly. Make sure the soil around the plant stays moist as long as it’s blooming. When the blooms die, cut the plant back to 2 inches from the ground. Cover the remaining plant with 3-4 inches of mulch and water completely.

If it’s dry over the winter, water the mums occasionally. Even though the plants have gone dormant, water is essential to keeping them healthy. Clip back any flowers that appear in the late-spring or early-summer period. Mums are easy to shape and clipping back foliage won’t harm the plant. And you’ll be happier with the riot of blooms when your plant blooms when it should in the fall.