Nothing says fall is here like an array of brightly colored chrysanthemums in the garden or strategically placed pots on the front porch. Here in the South, we love our mums mingled with multi-colored pumpkins or stunning winter squash decorating the porch steps. Whatever your chosen palette, there’s a hardy mum variety to go with your garden’s fall look.
Containers overflowing with these wonderful autumn favorites bring vast pops of color with their bountiful blooms. There is a mum that will complement the decor style of every home and garden.
Try pairing your mums with ornamental grasses for a fun texture with a harvest feel, or combine them with a gorgeous kale for a sweet cottage garden vibe. ‘Dwarf Blue’ curled kale adds a pretty contrast and a surprising texture that looks amazing with your warm-colored mums.
Not all mums are cold-hardy, so it’s essential to choose your plants carefully if you want to plant them in the ground and see them return next year. Chrysanthemums from the florist are typically annuals, with larger flowers and thinner petals. While some hardy mums have these wonderful large blooms, most produce smaller flowers but in a much greater quantity.
Hardy mums can survive year-round in climate Zones 4-9, making them very versatile and cold hardy perennials. Let’s look at some of my favorite varieties for bringing excellent color to your fall garden.
Bienchen
Bienchen chrysanthemum boasts toothy lime-green leaves and cheerful yellow blooms.
| botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Bienchen’ | |
 | sun requirements Full sun |
 | height 3’ |
 | hardiness zones 4-9 |
Foliage is a focal point for this attractive variety. Small, fernlike leaves are very toothy in a bright lime green shade. The name ‘Bienchen’ comes from the German for ‘little bee,’ a very fitting name for the pretty plant.
Clusters of small pompom form flowers top off tall stems, making this a wonderful variety for cutting. With a long vase life, chrysanthemums make excellent cut flowers. The blooms are bright yellow with a bronze center, as cheerful as can be.
Brennpunkt
This is a fragrant container plant with deep orange-red double-petaled blooms.
 | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Brennpunkt’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 3’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
Its name translates to ‘focal point,’ and ‘Brennpunkt’ will certainly take that spot in your garden. The highly fragrant flowers make this cultivar a perfect specimen for keeping in a container near your outdoor living space.
Dark green, toothy foliage set the backdrop for these stunning blooms. Fully double-petaled, the deep orange-red blooms have just a touch of yellow. The coloration has depth and accentuates the texture of the small, dense petals.
Bronze Elegance
This plant features lush olive-green foliage and numerous small, colorful blooms.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Bronze Elegance’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
‘Bronze Elegance’ is bred from the Korean cultivar ‘Mei-Kyo,’ a pink variety. The dense foliage is a deep, rich, olive green shade on this mid-sized variety. They don’t need as much sun as other varieties, which makes them excellent for the front porch or your shade garden.
The masses of pompom blooms are a striking combination of colors. Shades of pink and yellow are edged with a deep coppery bronze, which is concentrated toward the center of the flowers. The flowers are small but plentiful and bloom through November.
Coppersmith
Nurture Coppersmith for a stunning fall floral display with bold, coppery orange flowers.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Coppersmith’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Nurture this plant, and it will reward you with a beautiful floral display for six to eight weeks in the fall. Coppersmith is a mid-sized plant with larger-sized flowers that are great for cutting.
The cushion-style flowers are heavily petaled and boldly colored. Coppery orange makes a striking contrast to bright green foliage and pairs beautifully with pale green pumpkins or gourds for a festive fall arrangement.
Coup de Soleil
This plant features sun-kissed blooms with yellow centers and orange petals.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Coup de Soleil’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
The name translates to ‘touch of sun,’ and it’s not hard to see why. This gorgeous variety looks every bit as sun-kissed as you would imagine. The blooms are somewhere between spoon form and anemone, with brilliant yellow centers and rows of narrow creamsicle orange petals.
This French cultivar comes to us from nurseryman Thierry Delabroye and is a mid-sized plant, reaching about two feet tall. The flowers are small and plentiful, like so many little rays of sunshine.
Debutante
Late-blooming ‘Debutante’ plants surprise with vibrant fuchsia flowers in cool weather.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Debutante’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1.5’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Like a true debutante, this mum makes her first appearance fashionably late. You will anticipate the arrival of these late fall bloomers even more for their habit of waiting for the cool weather before showing off in the garden.
‘Debutante’ is a mid-sized plant with bright green, toothy foliage. When the flowers finally grace the garden with their appearance, it is with great fanfare. Large, incurve-type blooms are a bold, bright shade of fuschia with just a hint of yellow peeking out from the center when fully opened.
Dernier Soleil
This hardy mum is a French cultivar with long-lasting, daisy-like blooms.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Dernier Soleil’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
The name of this old French cultivar means ‘last sunset.’ Perhaps this name implies, as the flower exhibits, a very long blooming time. Beginning in August, ‘Dernier Soleil’ will bloom heartily until the first frost.
The long-lasting blooms are perfect for cutting. They have a daisy form with a sunny yellow center. The petals have an ombre effect, fading from pale yellow toward the center to warm, reddish-orange at the tips. Plant this variety for full-season color in the garden.
Dixter Orange
This is a cold-hardy, floriferous plant with vibrant tangerine-orange double blooms.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Dixter Orange’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
| | height 1.5’-2.5’ |
| | hardiness zones 3-9 |
Exceptionally floriferous and cold hardy, ‘Dixter Orange’ is one of few varieties that will survive the winters in Zone 3, making this a highly desirable plant. The toothy foliage is deep green with a grey underside on this low, shrubby chrysanthemum.
The word brilliant doesn’t do justice to this cultivar’s bright, tangerine-orange double blooms. They are so bright and cheerful that you will wish they flowered all year long. The flowers are a uniform color and double pompom-shaped. A grouping of these makes an incredibly beautiful low hedge or drift.
Fall Charm
This cultivar features long-blooming, two to three-foot-tall plants with large purple and yellow-orange flowers.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Fall Charm’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Big and bold, the flowers on this cultivar have all the charm and grace you want in your fall garden. Luckily, they are a long-blooming variety and will show off throughout the fall until the first frost. The plant is mid-sized at two to three feet tall.
‘Fall Charm’ produces large, incurve type flowers that are excellent for cutting. The mass of narrow petals is purple toward the outside, with just a touch of creamy yellow-orange around the edges. The yellow shade becomes more concentrated near the center of the densely petaled blooms.
Granatapfel
This is a cold-hardy, untested hybrid with pomegranate-inspired flowers featuring bright red petals with golden margins.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Granatapfel’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
This modern hybrid is rumored to be highly cold-hardy, but plant at your own risk as this newer variety hasn’t been tested thoroughly. With a name that means ‘pomegranate,’ the color of these spectacular flowers should be a dead giveaway.
The petal form is similar to the giant irregular incurve varieties that are typically annuals. ‘Granatapfel’s’ bright red petals have golden margins and irregularly curve inward toward the center. This is a stunning addition to the fall garden.
Grandchild
A hardy mum variety with striking 3″-5″ wide lavender-pink incurve blooms.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Grandchild’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
‘Grandchild’ is an award-winning compact variety of mum. Given the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, you can guarantee that this chrysanthemum will be easy on the eyes.
Even though the name implies a smallness, nothing is small about the stunning incurve blooms on this variety. Clocking in at 3”-5” wide, these grandbabies make wonderful cut flowers, and the dense shrubby plants look amazing in a container or bed. The flowers are lavender-pink, with deeper color toward the center, where the petals are denser.
Grape Queen
This variety features large purple flowers, perfect for indoor arrangements.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Grape Queen’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 3’+ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
This tall, stately queen is on the level with annual florist varieties in flower size and flash. Large football-style flowers will steal the show in your garden or Thanksgiving centerpiece. These flowers look fabulous in a vase.
You can probably guess the color of these flowers. The masses of long, thin petals are as purple as the juiciest grape. The center fades to a pale yellow, adding depth to these already stunning blooms. You won’t want to leave these pretty flowers outdoors.
Harmony
Harmony chrysanthemums are a compact and easy-to-care-for plant with simple, daisy-like flowers.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Harmony’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
It’s amazing to me that this is the same type of plant as the previous one, as the flowers are completely different in form and color. Chrysanthemums have so many beautiful petal forms, and ‘Harmony’ is the simplest.
Compact ‘Harmony’ is a smaller plant, perfect for smaller containers and large groupings. It has a bushy growth habit and is very easy to care for. This lovely variety lives up to its name as very easy to get along with. The flowers are daisy form, with a single row of happy yellow petals and a pollen-rich center that bees will love.
Homecoming
This plant produces stunning, football-style flowers perfect for a September homecoming dance corsage.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Homecoming’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 3’+ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
This lovely chrysanthemum is the true belle of the ball. The large, statuesque plant can top over three feet tall and produces flowers that rival the most stunning florist mums you can buy. Aptly named ‘Homecoming,’ this mum produces large, football-style flowers.
The blooms are a stunning size and petal formation with layers and layers of narrow petals that are pale yellow on the outside and a gorgeous shade of peachy pink inside. These flowers would make a stunning corsage for that homecoming dance in September!
Honeycomb
A small plant with dense, rich amber-orange pompom blooms, perfect for fall.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Honeycomb’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 8”-16” |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
This diminutive mum makes a wonderful filler in your fall container arrangements. Their compact size and profuse blooming habit mean you can pack a lot of color into a small space with “Honeycomb.’ If you have a larger space to fill, a drift of ‘Honeycomb’ is just what the doctor ordered.
This sturdy little plant spends much of the fall densely covered in button-sized, pompom-petaled blooms. The color of these blooms is a rich amber-orange, the color of autumn honey. As the petals get smaller and denser toward the center, the color deepens, giving these blooms a lot of depth in such a small package.
Jessica Louise
This medium-sized plant has large, rose-pink flowers attracting fall pollinators.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Jessica Louise’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
With so many beautiful mums, it is difficult to choose a favorite, but ‘Jessica Lousie’ sits pretty high on the list. The medium-sized plant reaches two and three feet tall and has surprisingly large flowers. As such, these blooms make wonderful cut flowers.
The flowers are somewhere between a football mum and a reflex petal form. They are simply beautiful with layers of rose pink petals. In the center, a warm golden glow emanates from exposed pollen, making these chrysanthemums popular with fall pollinators.
Jolie Rose
A versatile, long-blooming plant with attractive pink flowers that attract pollinators.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Jolie Rose’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Neat and tidy, this pretty mum looks great and fits everywhere. It makes an excellent filler for container arrangements, and a mass planting of this happy little plant is simply stunning. It holds its flowers for a long time, blooming until the first frost.
‘Jolie Rose’ indeed has rose pink flowers. The semi-double flowers have a pleasant, round, flat disc shape, with a bright yellow center bordered by a ring of white at the base of the petals. The exposed center of these blooms makes them highly appealing to pollinators who will appreciate the fall food source.
Lemon Baby Tears
These chrysanthemums bring vibrant yellow color to the fall garden.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Lemon Baby Tears’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 16”-24” |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Small in size but big in color, ‘Lemon Baby Tears’ delivers a basketful of sunshine to the fall garden. The plants are small to midsized and have a mounding growth habit. Easy to care for and long-blooming, this variety is popular for good reason.
‘Lemon Baby Tears’ might bring tears to your eyes, but they will be tears of joy. The mass of small, yellow, button-style flowers are the brightest of yellows. Often referred to as bushel basket mums, a bushel of these chrysanthemums will brighten up the greyest of autumn days.
Overture
This compact, cold-tolerant mum has mounding green foliage and daisy-like red and yellow flowers.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Overture’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
“Overture’ is a compact variety with a mounding habit and rich color. The foliage is bright green and less dense than some mums, giving it a more delicate appearance. The plant, however, is quite sturdy and cold-tolerant. Wider than it is tall, this mum has great coverage potential if you want to fill in space with a heavy bloomer.
‘Overture’s’ flowers are single-form and daisy-like. A crown of bold red petals surrounds a bright yellow buttonlike center. As they age, these petals fade to a stunning terracotta, creating a wonderful, multi-tonal effect. Its small size makes ‘Overture’ a perfect border plant.
Pat Lehman
A stunning chrysanthemum cultivar with large peach flowers and vibrant green foliage.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Pat Lehman’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 16” |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Peachy perfection is the best way I can describe this stunning mum. Bred by chrysanthemum enthusiast Pat Lehman, this gorgeous cultivar takes the name of its cultivator. This highly popular variety opens its decorative form flowers in late summer and early fall.
The flowers are larger for a hardy mum, and the color is spectacular. Pale salmon buds open to creamy peach centers that fade as they age, creating a stunning effect in the garden. The foliage is a wonderful contrast in bright green.
Pink Crest
This beautiful, long-blooming flower has large, pink petals and a yellow center.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Pink Crest’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 18”-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 4-9 |
This mid-sized mum is a wonderful standalone with the loveliest personality. The larger size ‘Pink Crest’s’ blooms make them excellent cut flowers. This long bloomer provides reliable, low-maintenance color in the garden from early to late fall.
‘Pink Crest’ produces large flowers with a petal form that leans between reflexed and double-petaled. The petals are plentiful and the prettiest shade of rose pink. When fully opened, the flowers have a warm yellow center, a great attractant for pollinators.
Real Charmer
This has distinct daisy-shaped flowers featuring creamy yellow outer petals and buttery yellow inner petals.
| | botanical name Leucanthemum ‘Real Charmer’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
The only entry on our list to come from a different genus, ‘Real Charmer’ was once classified as a chrysanthemum but has been reassigned to a different group of mums, Leucanthemum.
Also known as Shasta Daisies, these plants look very similar, but the flowers are more daisy-shaped. They resemble the double form but with a reflexed outer ring and shorter, more irregular petals toward the center.
The outer petals on ‘Real Charmer’ are a pale, creamy yellow, almost white. They are longer and open outward. The smaller inner petals are a stronger buttery yellow and surround a deep yellow-orange center. They are fairly large and make great cut flowers.
Rhumba
This is a sun-loving garden mum with coral-colored double-petal blooms.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Rhumba’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
This pretty mum is certain to dance its way into your heart. ‘Rhumba’ is a small to medium-sized sun lover with a compact, mounding habit. It makes a great border or container plant. As a colorful and low-maintenance addition to the fall landscape, ‘Rhumba’ is a classic garden mum.
‘Rhumba’ flowers heavily, producing a bounty of coral-colored blooms in double-petal form. The daisy-like blooms have golden centers, and the flower petals fade as they age, creating a variety of shades on the same plant.
Rumpelstilzchen
A striking red variety with double petal form and sturdy stems.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Rumpelstilzchen’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
A flower as memorable as the name, this fairytale of a flower glows with trademark gold as if lit from within. The bold red flowers have a double petal form, with several rows of ovate petals slightly pointed at the tips.
‘Rumpelstilzchen’ is quite a big name to live up to, and this small plant does a surprisingly good job. The German cultivar has plenty of flash and makes a wonderful border. Its sturdy stems make these excellent cut flowers as well.
Ruth Treff
This cultivar features buttery yellow flowers that bloom from August to October.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Ruth Treff’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
| | height 1.5’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
‘Ruth Treff’ is an early blooming variety that starts flowering in August and continues through October. It is a compact plant that performs excellently in partial shade, making it great for front porch container arrangements.
This early bloomer produces buttery yellow flowers with usually single but sometimes double petal forms, strongly resembling a daisy. Golden centers dotted with pollen are attractive to pollinators. ‘Ruth Treff’ is a big bloomer, bringing color to the end of summer.
Samba
This prolific blooming mum has romantic pink flowers that resemble daisies.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Samba’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 1’-2’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
‘Samba’ is another lovely mum that begins blooming early in August and continues through the fall months. The word romance is frequently used to describe the mass of soft, rosy pink flowers that cover the plant for months.
The flowers are pink with yellow centers and resemble daisies. They have an open bloom with long, thin petals. When in flower, there is rarely any foliage visible. This is an excellent bloomer that looks incredible in a large grouping.
Siena Bronze
This garden mum is a vibrant and low-maintenance choice with pumpkin-orange double-petaled flowers.
| | botanical name Chrysanthemum ‘Siena Bronze’ |
|---|---|
| | sun requirements Full sun |
| | height 2’-3’ |
| | hardiness zones 5-9 |
Our final variety is a classic, reliable, and low-maintenance garden mum. ‘Siena Bronze’ is a medium to tall cultivar that blooms prolifically, making it a superbly showy addition to the garden. You can’t go wrong with this variety as a standalone or in an arrangement.
The fully double-petaled flowers are pumpkin orange and so bright they seem backlit. Nearer to the center, the petals are a deeper shade of bronze, giving the flowers a cushion-like appearance.
Final Thoughts
Enjoy your stunning mums in the garden or containers this fall, but don’t forget to put them in the ground at least six weeks before your first expected frost. This will give them the chance to become properly rooted before winter comes. You can enjoy these stunning hardy chrysanthemums year after year in the garden.
