Oct. Flowers

 

The Chicago Botanic Gardens are filled with thousands of flowers in brilliant bloom.

These beds are along the Esplanade and in their rich colors, they look like

Persian carpets.  There are six colors of chrysanthemums here.

There are ten large beds of these Persian Carpet Mums.

The entrance to the Gardens is across a bridge hung with curtains of white mums.

Mums can be trained to grow in almost any shape from single large blossoms to

pyramids, to huge pots, to hanging curtains.

Boxes of white mums also line the bridge.

Pots of brilliantly colored mums are found throughout the Gardens.

These are saffron yellow mums.

This is one of six pots by the entrance with Autumn Bronze Mums.

Close-up of the Autumn Bronze Mums.

The next stop is the Heritage Gardens.  This is a North American Sunflower.

It is a new variety which stands only three feet high

Yellow Calendula / Pot Marigold

Calendula  /  Pot Marigold

Blue Potato Vine.  The Potato family of plants includes many decorative varieties.

This is a beautiful blue variety.

Decorative Kale.  The Gardens try to plant only specimens which are hardy and

can take a Chicago winter.  They also like to mix vegetables and flowers,

and the results are interesting and beautiful.  These kale come with purple,

pink, or white centers.

One of the many varieties of Black Eyed Susans  /  Rudbeckia.

Golden Queen Globeflower

Strawflowers in the English Garden

Pale Blue Waterlily.  The waterlily ponds were filled with many colors of flowers.

White Waterlily.  Some of these open at night as female plants, get pollinated by bugs

overnight, and the next day they turn male before dying.

It said so on the tag!

Starlet Spoon Korean Mums

This was one of the featured varieties throughout the Gardens this year.

Korean Mums are particularly hardy  and prolific bloomers, and they do

very well in Chicago winters, surviving easily outdoors in gardens.

Autumn Crocus - Lavender Lady.  What a delight!  These bulbs stay quiet and

underground all spring and summer; then in late September, they appear through

the groundcover and bloom prolifically.  These are Waterlily Autumn Crocus.

Two clumps of Lavender Lady Autumn Crocus

Giant Multicolored Autumn Crocus

White Waterlily Autumn Crocus

Guernsey Lilies

Blue Floss Flowers  /  Ageratum

"Cheerleader"  Football Mums

"Cheerleader"  Football Mums

"Delphine" Pink Rose

"Princess Margaret" red and white rose

White York Rose

"Hot Cocoa"  Rose

"Elegance"  Rose

Walled English Garden, Urn, and Black-Eyed Susans

Raspberry and Vanilla Panicle Hydrangea

Raspberry  Panicle  Hydrangea

Sassy Black-Eyed Susans

"Callie Dahlia"

"Bahama Mama"  Dahlia  in  the  Bulb  Garden

"Diva" deep purple dahlia  in  Bulb  Garden

"Junkyard Dog Dahlia."  I don't know where the name came from,
but is on all the ID tags in the garden.  But it's beautiful and large.

"Louie Meggos"  Dinner Plate Mum - 12 inches across

We discovered three new houses in the Lincoln Park Area of Chicago's Near North Side.

The Parillo Palace at 1932 N. Burling.

The Wilson House at 550 W. Dickens

The Mullins Mansion at 1955 N. Burling.
This one is for sale.

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