A Fleurette is a pint-sized chrysanthemum, the same family as the big potted mums sold every autumn, but bred to stay small and smother itself in tiny flowers.1Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst That’s why it’s mostly sold as a gift plant or table centerpiece rather than a garden shrub.2Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst Its care is nearly the same as any mum, with one catch: it dries out fast, and wilting blooms may not recover.3Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum
What Makes a Fleurette Different From a Regular Mum
Fleurettes come from crossing a domestic chrysanthemum with a wild Asiatic one.4Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum The plant grows naturally compact, so it doesn’t need trimming into shape.5Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst A typical pot is about 7 to 9 inches tall and just as wide.6Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes Each flower is only about an inch across, but a plant carries a great many of them.7Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes
A single-plant pot usually produces about 50 flowers.8Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst Larger pots with several plants together can carry a few hundred buds.9Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst10Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst
In the store, look for a low, rounded mound under a foot tall rather than a big bushy mum. The flowers look like tiny daisies or buttons, not large pompoms. Labels often carry a variety name instead of the word Fleurette. A plant with many open flowers plus some tight buds will give you a longer display at home.
How to Water a Fleurette
A Fleurette should never be allowed to dry out.11Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes Depending on warmth and light, it usually needs water every day or every other day.12Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes To check, push a finger into the soil. If the top 2 to 4 inches are dry or the plant is drooping, water now.13Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum
Water until it runs out of the bottom of the pot, which shows the soil is wet all the way through.14Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum Then don’t leave the plant sitting in water, which harms it.15Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes Aim water at the soil rather than over the leaves where possible,16Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum because wet leaves encourage bacterial leaf spot on chrysanthemums.17Penn State Extension. Chrysanthemum Diseases
Gift Fleurettes often come wrapped in foil or set in a decorative pot with no drainage hole. Water collects at the bottom and the roots sit soaked. Poke holes in the foil, or lift the plant out and let it drain over the sink. Empty the saucer or outer pot after every watering.
A drooping plant can mean two opposite things. Drooping with dry soil means it needs water immediately. Drooping with soggy soil points to too much water and possible root rot. Warm, bright rooms dry the pot much faster, so check more often there.
Light and Temperature for Fleurettes
Fleurettes like bright light but not direct sun, since strong afternoon sun can be intense enough to burn the flowers.18Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes | Willy’s Greenhouse An east window or a bright room out of the sun’s direct path suits it well. A spot a few feet back from a bright window, or behind a sheer curtain, also works. If the leaves look pale and the stems stretch, the plant is getting too little light. If flowers fade or crisp at the edges, move it back.
Fleurettes do well at ordinary home and office temperatures.19Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes They thrive at about 60 to 65°F (15 to 20°C),20Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes but tolerate a wider range of about 50 to 80°F (10 to 26°C).21Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum A cooler room helps blooms last, while heat dries the pot faster. Avoid spots next to heating vents or radiators, which dry the soil and shorten bloom, and cold, drafty doorways in winter.
Fleurettes need long nights to form flowers.22Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes | Willy’s Greenhouse They bloom naturally in fall as days shorten.23Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes | Willy’s Greenhouse Greenhouses make them bloom on schedule by covering plants to lengthen their nights.24Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes | Willy’s Greenhouse
That matters if you want blooms again. Lamps on in the evening shorten the plant’s night, and a plant kept under room light after dark may not set new buds. A room that’s dark in the evening helps.
Keeping the Flowers Going Longer
Fleurettes are known for long-lasting blooms.25Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum As each flower fades, cut or pinch its stem just above the first healthy leaves.26Monrovia. How to Deadhead Flowers: Pinching and Pruning for Lasting Blooms The plant looks tidier and puts its energy into the remaining buds.
With one-inch flowers, fingers or small scissors work best. Do it every few days rather than all at once. When most flowers are spent, trimming the whole top lightly is fine.
A Fleurette opens its flowers in waves, so some buds are still tight when the first blooms are fading. Browning flower centers signal that a bloom is finishing, and drying out is the most common cause of early bloom loss.
Humid, still air around the leaves encourages mould and fungus.27American Orchid Society. Humidity and Air Movement Leave a few centimetres between pots rather than crowding plants together.28GrowTropicals. Do houseplants need fresh air or ventilation?
Soil, Pots and Repotting
Avoid disturbing a healthy plant at peak bloom just for looks.29Viviero3d. Potted Mum Pot Size, Watering, and Indoor Bloom Care If you want a nicer container, set the nursery pot inside a decorative outer pot while keeping drainage open.30Viviero3d. Potted Mum Pot Size, Watering, and Indoor Bloom Care Repot only if the roots are packed, the mix won’t wet evenly, or the pot tips over.31Viviero3d. Potted Mum Pot Size, Watering, and Indoor Bloom Care
Roots circling the inside of the pot or poking from the drainage holes show the plant has outgrown it. If water runs straight through without wetting the soil, or the pot dries out within hours, the roots have probably crowded out the soil. Without these signs, a healthy plant in bloom is better left alone.
Use a good commercial potting soil, which is lighter and pest-free compared with garden soil.32Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum Mums like slightly acidic soil, around pH 6.0 to 6.5.33Succulents Box. How to Care for Mums (Chrysanthemum) Choose a pot with drainage holes, usually only about an inch wider than the root ball.34Viviero3d. Potted Mum Pot Size, Watering, and Indoor Bloom Care A too-large pot holds wet soil the roots can’t use, so don’t pick the pot by the width of the flower dome. Repotting every 2 years is enough.35Flowers Canada Growers. Fleurette Mum
To repot, fill the new pot with mix to about 2 inches below the rim. Set the plant at the same depth it grew before, press soil firmly around the roots, and water thoroughly to settle it. Then return it to a bright spot.
Feeding a Fleurette
Growers feed Fleurettes steadily while raising them,36Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment at UMass Amherst. Producing Fleurette Chrysanthemums as Centerpieces: Greenhouse & Floriculture: Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (CAFE) at UMass Amherst but too much nitrogen fertilizer makes plants more prone to aphids, mites and leafminers.37Syngenta Flowers. Pest Control 101 At home, a diluted houseplant feed during active growth is plenty.
A plant in full bloom from the store was already fed by the grower, so it needs nothing. If you keep it after flowering, feed during new leafy growth, and stop while it’s setting buds and in bloom.
Salts from fertilizer can also build up in a small pot and burn the roots. A weak solution used occasionally is safer than a strong dose given once.
Pests and Leaf Problems
Spider mites feed on the undersides of mum leaves, so the tops of the leaves look finely speckled.38Greenhouse Management. Scout garden mums for insect pests to avoid surprises Heavy infestations cause fine webbing and leaf drop.39Greenhouse Management. Scout garden mums for insect pests to avoid surprises Any spray needs to reach the leaf undersides where the mites feed.40Syngenta Flowers. Pest Control 101
To confirm mites, hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf and tap it. Tiny specks that move are mites. A hand lens or your phone’s camera can help you see the specks and webbing. Dry, warm indoor air favors them.
Powdery mildew shows as white dry powder, mostly on older leaves.41UC IPM. Chrysanthemum Diseases and Disorders Bacterial leaf spot starts as small dark spots on lower leaves that spread upward, often on one side.42Penn State Extension. Chrysanthemum Diseases Once it infects a plant, sprays won’t cure it.43University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Cooperative Extension Service. Garden Mum Production: Diseases & Nutritional Disorders Root rot turns stems dark brown or black at the soil line, and plants wilt and die.44Penn State Extension. Chrysanthemum Diseases Its organisms favor cool, wet soil.45University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Cooperative Extension Service. Garden Mum Production: Diseases & Nutritional Disorders
When you spot trouble, rinse or wipe the leaf undersides for mites and isolate the plant. Remove spotted leaves and keep the foliage dry. A black stem base usually means the plant is lost, so discard it and the soil. Give plants space so leaves dry quickly.
Are Fleurettes Safe Around Pets
Mums are toxic to cats, dogs and horses, containing pyrethrins and other irritants.46Webvet. Are mums toxic to cats? Chewing them can cause stomach upset, skin irritation, and wobbliness.47Webvet. Are mums toxic to cats? Keep the pot on a high shelf or out of rooms your pets can reach.
Cats are considered the most vulnerable of the common household pets, so they warrant the most caution. Dogs and other animals can still get an upset stomach if they chew the plant, though reactions are generally milder. Because the plant can irritate skin, a pet brushing against it may react too.
If a pet chews it, remove plant pieces from its mouth and watch for vomiting, drooling or unsteady walking. Call your vet or a pet poison line and give them the plant name.
Getting a Fleurette to Bloom Again
Since bloom is triggered by long nights, a kept plant will try to flower again as fall days shorten. Care for it is very similar to any chrysanthemum,48Willy’s Greenhouse. Fleurettes so keep watering and give it bright light through the non-blooming months.
After the bloom, cut back old flower stems to healthy leaves. Through spring and summer, water steadily and feed lightly, and repot in spring if roots fill the pot. From late summer, keep it where evenings are dark. Don’t expect the store version: a plant grown at home usually grows taller and looser, with fewer flowers than the original.