I was away last week enjoying 70 degree days when the frosts hit in Tooele. When I left, the garden was filled with productive plants. When I returned, it was clear that there had been frost on the pumpkins… and squash… and tomatoes… and peppers — a good many of the plants in our flowerbeds.

Fortunately, the frost that blackened the plants wasn’t hard enough to start the pumpkins down the road to a sunken, mushy state. But clearly it is time to gather the squash and bring them in and clean out some flowerbeds. The Indian summer weather expected for this weekend will facilitate that.

Despite the ravages of last week’s cold snap on the annuals, there are some flowers that are still colorful and holding their own and showing off their fall blooms.

Chrysanthemums are the most notable of these fall-blooming flowers. If you put them in last spring, you may have hardly noticed they were there during the summer. The plants just held their spots as green specimens until shortened days triggered their bloom.

Mums glory in this season. The snow that fell bent them a bit under its weight, but they lifted back after it melted to bathe the flowerbeds in shades of bronze, lavender, yellow and white for yet a little longer. They won’t go on forever; sometime soon serious winter weather will arrive and they will freeze back to the ground. Since they are perennials, they will grow back next spring and summer to put on another fall show in 2009.

You do find potted mums year-round. The florist specimens are forced to bloom out of season by adjusting the light to provide short days and very long nights, but nature provides the right conditions in the autumn and they glory in their natural blooms.

If you receive a potted mum, it is tempting to plant it outdoors to enjoy it again later, however you will probably be disappointed in the resulting flower show. Left to nature, most florist mums grow very long and lanky and tend to fall over in the beds. They often have a late-season bloom and will just be putting out blossoms when the real snows and cold weather arrive.

To enjoy these beautiful fall plants in your yard, you are better off to purchase them as bedding plants from a nursery. These grow to more manageable heights and bloom earlier in the season.

You will have plenty of types to choose from. Standard mums, the round-headed “football” variety, are still available, but they are less popular than at one time.

You can also choose from cushion mums with a mass of short upright petals, daisy mums, spoon flowers, quill flowers, or anemone flowers. They may be tiny pom pons, button poms, or spider flowered. They may stand stalwart at a foot tall, or they may grow taller. All types, sizes and varieties lend themselves to cut bouquets and they last in these arrangements for some time, outliving most of the other blossoms in them. Now is an excellent time to look around and see what kinds you like

You won’t have any trouble finding chrysanthemums. They are readily available from mail-order garden catalogs and local nurseries in the spring. Some professional gardens maintain their mums in pots for much of the season while they are in their green growing stage, then add them to flowerbeds late in the summer as other plants fail and enjoy a fall show.

The plants will return year after year for a repeat performance. Each plant has its own genetic response to day length, so while some will bloom early in September, others may not bloom until later. The catalog estimates on approximate bloom dates may not be entirely accurate at Tooele County’s latitude, since shorter nights come later here than farther north, and sooner than farther south.

After the frost blackens your plants later this season, cut the stalks off to reduce crown rot during the winter. Chrysanthemums are relatively hardy, but they respond well to an assist. Mulch them with leaves, straw or other weed-free organic matter. Pray for snow. Besides the fact that we could use the water, snow is a natural insulator which will help them survive during deep winter. Some gardeners even dig them up in clumps and pot them up to save in a cold frame for next year, but I find that rather a lot of unneeded work.

Next spring, you will probably find shoots extending in all directions as the plants expand. If the plant remains overcrowded, it will expand and become too matted to produce quality flowers. The stems compete for light and nutrients so the plants tend to grow long and leggy even when pruned.

Divide crowded plants. Carefully dig and cut off many underground stems. Each stolen will grow to a full-sized plant by fall. From each clump you can probably get anywhere from four to a dozen plants to share with a neighbor or grow in your flowerbeds. The cuttings will produce the best plants. The main plant loses its vigor and produces smaller and fewer blooms after one year. Some gardeners throw away the main plant after taking cuttings to start new plants.

Plant chrysanthemums in full sun about 12 to 24 inches apart.

They are fairly tolerant to a wide range of soils, but thrive in soil that has been thoroughly cultivated and enriched with organic material such as compost, leaves or cow manure. Either place the plants directly in the flowerbed, or put them in a row somewhere in the back garden. They can be successfully moved when they bloom or are ready to bloom provided they are watered in well when they are transplanted.

During the summer, when they are six to eight inches tall, nourish them with a complete fertilizer. Even garden chrysanthemums can become tall and lanky and may bloom prematurely and less attractively without proper care. To avoid having to stake the plants and to make them produce more blossoms and become bushier, pinch or shear about an inch off the tips beginning when they are about 6 inches tall and repeat the process every time the stems grow 6 to 8 inches until about the fourth of July. This will force the plant to put out new branches and delay blossoming until the weather and day length are more appropriate.

Watch for and control white flies and spittle bugs early in the season.