By now in the East you should know whether your chrysanthemums are dead or alive. Some springs you cannot help but wonder if there is such a thing as a hardy chrysanthemum. Those developed in northern areas such as Minnesota are not necessarily any hardier but are merely earlier blooming and thereby escape the early Northern freezes.

On the other hand it may be a good thing for them to die because new plants growing on a single stem are usually better plants, provided they are pinched after each three or four inches of new growth to make them bushy. You will also have much better foliage clear to the ground than when you allow them to grow as a compact clump of many stems.

If you have never tried it, dig up all of your mums and divide them, resetting only vigorous new shoots, one to a place and about 15 to 18 inches apart. Do not depend on a hard woody little stem if soft, succulent shoots from the roots are available. Some people prefer to take cuttings 2 or 3 inches long and root them in sand. If the cuttings are made from the tips of the stems that are succulent, they should root in ten days and be ready to plant in the garden where they are to grow. But pinch off that tip bud after each few inches of growth to make it branch as much as possible. You can keep this up until early to mid-July.