The flopping open is typical, helps make it look like some kind of goofy Shasta daisy with the leaves bunched together out on the ends of the stems and the flower heads on too short stems.

I used to grow them commercially, but haven't done so in about two years. Yes, they can be rejuvenated. Like with so many other perennials, the crown eventually becomes woody and often the stems coming from them will splay out revealing the dead and woody material in the center of the clump. If you have a non-patented variety, you can easily start cuttings from them. If you don't want to bother with that, you can lay one branch of them down and French layer it with soil over it where it should easily root along the stem. Next spring, just sever it from the mother plant and plant it elsewhere. If you are lucky enough to have had a plant who has developed a multi-stemmed clump, with roots you can sever and divide, just do it. I have found the newer varieties are bred to have multiple, smaller blooms. They cover the foliage like a carpet and are lovely, but they also tend to splay out when they bloom just from the weight of the blooms and can look unthrifty. Proper pinching can help them have stem strong enough to hold them in place. The most important thing in overwintering a mum is to make sure its roots don't rot. That's why sandy soil is sometimes an advantage. But, I overwinter mine in clay soil, usually without ammending it. I tend to plant mine on a slope so that when the soil is saturated, it eventually drains downward and the roots of the mums aren't sitting in a pool at the bottom of it all.

Wow, popi, it's surprisingly hard to toot one's own horn! I've had this on my mind for days. Something good I do as a "mum" (I like that) is to pass on a love of books to my kids. We're getting ready for the Harry Potter releases, movie and book. So we started reading book 5 again. I had all 4 kids sprawled on my bed (king size ;o) ) listening to me read to them. Couple weeks ago we took a long road trip and listened to book 6 on cd as we drove. I will take them all to the midnight release of book 7. If I maintained a scrapbook, (yeah right) there would be a few pages dedicated to our family enjoyment of HP. I am always reading a book and will sit on the bench in our front yard after dinner. DD comes out and sits with me with her own book. She's only 7, so it's very cute to me. DS, 13, is a very good reader for his age. He was required to do a lot of independent reading this past school year and I always challenged him by giving him quality reading material. Last spring we read "Night" by Elie Wiesel together. I gave him "Of Mice and Men" and when he was finished he came and said "Can we talk about this book?" I about cried! That is the sort of moment that I looked forward to most when I became a mother! I've also enjoyed sharing less serious reading material with him, too. He likes the humor of Douglas Adams' science fiction. I've always read to my kids, and not because some magazine article or parenting book told me I should. I have always loved reading so it was the most natural thing for me to share that with my kids. Now that 3 of the 4 are literate, I can share it with them in a whole new way. One more to go, by the end of the year my youngest will likely be reading on his own, too. Seeing them learn to read is the most satisfying milestone for me as a parent.

Sheriz, I have just finished "Death comes to Pemberley". I don't normally read P&P inspired books but I thought I would try this one, not having much time to choose a library book and this one was handily displayed on the new books shelf! Such a respected author, too! I thought I was going to enjoy it at first, with the tongue in cheek description of what the gossips thought about Lizzie's calculated pursuit of Darcy. As the book progressed, however, I got quite annoyed. Too much of the author's modern thoughts were creeping into it. Phrases that didn't seem right for the period and silly mistakes aggravated me. I finished it in a hurry to discover the mystery. No more Austen fan fiction, ever! What did your group think?