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I am not a gardener, but my daughter gave me two potted mums that are sitting in front of my house. I don't want them to die, so I am trying to care for them as much as possible. I placed them in front of the house where they get the most sun light and I water them every other day. Now the weather is beginning to get colder and am concerned that the cold air will kill them. Does anyone know how to properly care for mums so they will bloom again next year?

I strongly recommend that you plant your mums outdoors in well-drained soil. In addition, mums like it sunny and should receive at least a half-day of sun light, so find a place where there is plenty of sunshine daily.

The following are some additional helpful tips:

Remember to keep the soil moist as winter approaches.
You don't have to prune mums in the winter.
Place some mulch after the ground freezes with leaves or peat moss.
Remove the mulch in the spring time.

Hope this helps.

Mums are beautiful and I can understand your reasoning for trying to keep them alive during the cold winter months. My suggestion is to cut them down to 6″ after they are done blooming. This will cause some of the stems to trap winter snow for insulation. It is also important to properly spread some mulch around your mums after a cold freeze. This can be done by using straw, pine needles or evergreens. The insulation will also protect the root systems and keep you flowers healthy and ready to bloom next season.

Mums are lovely, hardy and blossom after the summer growth has developed. So that means you may not see blossom until the sun no longer hits them as much. Once you have them in the right place in your yard, you will find yourself with bigger, better plants every year with not much else than water and a good fertilizer.

To make sure you get them to do this, I have one suggestion that is fun and rewarding. Make cuttings of your potted mums and grow those cutting indoors for a winter. They make great house plants while they rapidly grow into yard plants for next year. Take cuttings with a couple of leaf sets on each stem. Drop them in a bucket of water. When you’ve taken the cuttings, plant the mum outdoors and water in with Vitamin B-1 for plants. Get a small container of root stimulating hormone from the garden center. Fill each compartment of a flat or “pony pack” with potting soil and water well. Allow to drain. Using a stick or pencil, form a hole in the middle of each compartment. Stick the stem of each cutting in the hormone and insert into the hole in the potting soil. Pinch the soil gently on all sides to set the stems. Place in a sunny location away from heater vents or cold drafts and check regularly for moisture. By spring you will have as many mums as you want. Should they be very happy in your house, you may find yourself needing to plant each in a new, larger pot. I find these plants are just like pets . . . the more you invest, the more you get. You don’t even have to let them outside or change the litter box!

Fertilizing should be accomplished every month. The soil of the plants should be fertilized with a general purpose fertilzer and top dressed with compost.

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Mumms are beautiful enough to survive ,please do the following,

use good fertilizer to grow
make the soil breathing in no-snow environment
cut down the 6''

simply take care and checkout the preceedings.