PERFECT FOR YOUR POT OR PORCH. Mums are as easy on the eyes as they are the pocket, offering bursts of color from rich purples and reds to yellows and bronzes. As you trade out your summertime florals for fall decor, consider this favorite. (Photo via Down to Earth Garden Center)

Right now, Midwesterners are trading their lush green gardens and annual plants for corn stalks, pumpkins and pots of chrysanthemums. The latter, affectionately known as mums, are just as easy to come across as ready-to-carve pumpkins – but why is that?

I rang up Ben Polzin, owner of Eau Claire’s Down to Earth Garden Center (6025 Arndt Lane), to ask that question. Naturally, he schooled me with fast facts about mums.

“Mums naturally bloom in the fall,” Ben said, making mums a short-day bloom. “Our climate specifically, with the length of daylight combined with warmer temperatures that cool off at night, makes for prime mum weather.”

We're kind of in the sweet spot, in this region of the Midwest. –Ben Polzin, owner of Down to Earth Garden Center, on why mums flourish in the Chippewa Valley

If you travel further north, mums aren’t likely to last as long because of the cooler temperatures and lack of sunlight come fall. On the flip side, too much daylight and heat further down south isn’t ideal for mums either.

“We’re kind of in the sweet spot, in this region of the Midwest,” Ben said.

He also made an interesting point I hadn’t considered: “We do so much seasonal decorating here because we have very distinct seasons,” he said. “In Wisconsin, we have a very true summer, very spring, very true fall and very true winter.”

QUICK HISTORY: Mums also have deep, centuries-long roots across the globe. Traced back to 15th century China, mums became more popular across Asia (in Japan, National Chrysanthemum Day is celebrated with festivities) before popping up in Europe around the 17th century and then America.

See how well mums pair with pumpkins?! Elk Mound's Pleasant Valley Tree Farm, pictured, is doin' it right. (Photo by Andrea Paulseth)

Mums especially are the kind of bloom that fits alongside most everything – with about 40 varieties and an abundance of colors – and as people saw farewell to summertime flowers, they provide a burst of color appropriate for the fall.

(Mums are also pretty easy on the wallet, another reason they're great "filler" plants for decor. At Down to Earth, a standard eight-inch pot of mums is $15.99; local florist and landscaper Lily Beez sells large pots at $15; and at Eau Claire's Hy-Vee, eight-inch pots are around $7.)

At Down to Earth, the yellows, bronzes and reds are typically most popular, Ben said. Rich purples, whites and pinks go quickly too, be it for fall weddings and events, porch pots or backyard decor.

In the Chippewa Valley, peak mum season is usually in late September, but mums are a tough plant – they handle light frost better than most flowers. Trimming wilting areas and protecting your mums overnight can keep them healthy through October, Ben said.

Swing by Down to Earth to pick up your own porch pot of mums or just take a drive around town – you're sure to find a roadside stand with mums or a grocer selling the blooms out front.

Just about every garden center and nursery will have mums for sale in the Chippewa Valley, as well as local Festival Foods, Menards, and other stores • Down to Earth Garden Center is located at 6025 Arndt Lane, Eau Claire