There is an early buyer problem in American retail stores. Everyone complains that Halloween products are in stores months before the holiday, even before the end of July. The same early display of products is true of every holiday because most seasonal items are only sold once. The store that displays early gets the sale. In fact, it gets the only sale of that product to the consumer, and the store's competition doesn't get the sale. One of my local stores put fall decor products on clearance to start displaying Christmas items before the first day of fall.

The "early sale is the only sale" idea works for almost all products except Halloween candy, because the early purchased candy gets eaten and needs to be purchased a second time.

If you don't want to see Christmas products at the same time as back-to-school products, stop buying things early. Wait for it to go on clearance before the season even starts, like I did for fall decor.

Chrysanthemums used to be a fall product purchased in October or used for decorating at Thanksgiving. My local big box stores started selling blooming mums in August. My local greenhouse operation grows thousands of mums for sale at the formally proper time of October to November. People already shopping at the big box stores that pick up a mum now don't have to drive to the greenhouse.

Mum plants bloom in cool weather for five or six weeks from the first flower to the last flower. The middle three to four weeks will have the most flowers in bloom at the same time. Mum flowers stay open much longer in cool weather than warm weather. Mums purchased in late summer will not bloom as long as mums purchased in the fall. The flowers last longest when the daytime highs are in the 60s.

Here are some tips to get the most out of your mum purchase: Don't purchase mums that are starting to bloom in warm weather, unless you plan to buy another one later in the season. Like I said, most seasonal items are only purchased once, but in this case, you will need two mums.

Mum plant stems are brittle and break easily. Inspect the mum for broken or cracked branches that may still be green but will wilt and die soon after purchase.

The plant should be symmetrical, round and dense with no open areas. For the most flowers for your money, get a plant with fewer than 25% of the flowers blooming. Flower buds should cover the whole plant. You need a few flowers open so you can decide if the color is what you want, but you want most of the flowers to bloom for you, not the store. You should be able to get a full month of blooming.

If you are purchasing the plants later in October or into November, or you have an event that needs flowers blooming, it is OK to get plants with more flowers already blooming. However, be aware that a fully blooming plant may only last a week, since it has been blooming for several weeks to get to the fully blooming stage.

Mums grown in pots need a lot of water, especially if placed in the sun. There are many kinds of mums. Only a few are hardy and can survive the winter. If you want to try a mum in your landscape, buy one at a nursery in the spring for the most success because it has time to grow a large root system. If you want to try one that is purchased in the fall, buy an early one and plant it early. If you plant it late in the fall, it is difficult to keep the small root system watered over the winter.

You can cut the top off, or you can leave the top on. Mulch the roots and check often to see that the roots don't dry out during the winter. If there is no snow cover, the roots may need to be watered several times over the winter.

Email questions to Jeff Rugg at [email protected]. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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