Marvelous Mums!

A dear friend forwarded the following article to me and I thought that it would be nice to post it for anyone who might be interested in attending either of the two shows that will feature these beautiful Chrysanthemums.

I love the Autumn because it's the time of year that a myriad of Chrysanthemums appear in gardens across New England. Their beautiful colors, ranging from bright white to creamy white, bright yellow to deeper yellow to golden yellow, orange, rust, magenta, purple, lilac, gorgeous reds, such as Daisy Chrysanthemums, [I've even seen some in a shade of green(?)]. Perhaps, if you are nearby to where these shows are appearing OR, if it's time for you to take that little out-of-the-way trip to visit these places, then what better time to take advantage of these offerings during this beautiful season of Autumn! ENJOY!!

* * * * * * *

"Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum," through Nov. 18 at the New York Botanical Garden.

Marvelous mums - Two upcoming shows spotlight the versatility of a seasonal favorite.
By Carol Stocker, Boston Globe Correspondent - October 18, 2007

The production of millions of nearly identical pots of cushion-style chrysanthemums has reduced this versatile plant to being a throwaway American seasonal cliche, kind of the poinsettia of autumn. But in Japan they take mums seriously. In fact, chrysanthemums - "kiku" in Japanese - have been revered for centuries as the crest of Japan's imperial family and, more recently, as the national flower.

The Japanese don't just grow chrysanthemums. They train them.

The Japanese emperor even had his own private chrysanthemum show for invited guests at his Tokyo garden, Shinjuku Gyoen, where chrysanthemums were pinched and wired for a solid year to create highly stylized displays that, for instance, echoed the colored tassels on the imperial horses' bridles. Now open to the public, the Tokyo chrysanthemum show dazzled New York Botanical Garden trustees, who visited it seven years ago, said Margaret Falk, NYBG associate vice president.

"They were amazed at the display of beauty and technical horticultural skill," she said, "and wondered if there was some way we could do that here."

The process turned into a cultural exchange, with American gardeners training with Shinjuku Gyoen's Kiku Master Yasuhira Iwashita to create the most extensive display of chrysanthemums grown in the imperial style ever presented outside Japan. It promises to be a blockbuster flower show, the horticultural equivalent of borrowing the Rembrandts or Vermeers from Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. The show will be accompanied by an exhibit of botanical illustrations and a wide range of lectures and programs on Japanese culture.

Closer to home, Smith College's Lyman Conservatory has its own chrysanthemum show Nov. 3-18, and this one is free to the public. A reception and flower show preview will follow a lecture by biologist Elizabeth Farnsworth on rare plants of the Connecticut River Valley Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. A century-old tradition, the annual Smith show features carefully trained cascade chrysanthemums and mum varieties bred by current and past undergraduates, with some flowers dating back to the 1930s.

You can learn more about growing and training the many kinds of chrysanthemums by visiting the website of the National Chrysanthemum Society at mums.org. And if you're just looking for a tough hardy garden mum that will come back every year (unlike those common cushion mums), Falk recommends Korean mums such as late-flowering Mary Stoker.

© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company.