Mums and More

Interior of the Longwood Gardens Main Conservatory outside Philadelphia

for the annual Chrysanthemum Festival.  Notice the red Mum-balls and white

Mum-balls hanging from the ceiling and the Yellow Blankets of Mums on the columns.

Golden Splendor Spider Mum

Pot of Golden Splendor Spider Mums

Golden Splendor Spider Mum

Red Wing Spoon Mums

Lavender Lucy Spoon Mums.  Notice the tubular petals which open out into spoon-like forms.

White Mum-ball.  Two dozen of these four foot spheres hang from the ceiling

on cables with pulleys.  There are sixteen plants in each ball, and they are

lowered to the ground each morning to be watered.  They come in four colors.

Yellow Mum-Ball

Janet Baker Spider Mums

Pot of Janet Baker Spider Mums

Dome of 500 Yellow Mums

This is a single plant with one stem and one root system, but it has been specially trained.

White Starlite Mums

Pink and White Thistle Mums - quite small

Yellow Thistle Mums

White Thistle Mums

Pink Rain Mum

Exotic White Mum

Pale Pink William Holden Mums.

Bed of William Holden Mums

Pink Anemone Tree Mums.  This is actually just six mum plants which have

been pruned and pinched so that they have a long stalk and then a large cluster

of flowers at the end.  There were also some in white.

Gold and copper "Martine" mum.

The Camellia Greenhouse had a variety of camellias.

A red and white camellia.

A pair of orchids.

Pink Nerines and White Marguerite Daisies along the Garden Path.

Chenille Plant

Bed of Dusky Queen Spider Mums beneath chenille plant.

Dusky Queen Spider Mum

There was also an exhibit of bonsai trees in the conservatory.

This maple is 45 years old.

Pink Flair Spider Mum

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Ball of pink Anemone Mums four feet in diameter.

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Chrysanthemum Festival

It's late October, and that means it's time for the "Chrysanthemum Festival" 

at Longwood Gardens, 25 miles west of Phladelphia.

It was the private estate of Pierre Dupont until it was donated to the State.

Since 1921, Mr. Dupont had celebrated a Chrysanthemum festival each year in

honor of the great festivals of Japan.  The tradition continues today.  Gardeners work

all year long preparing special plants and displays.  This year there were 16,000

 chrysanthemum plants and millions of blossoms.  The plants must be watered each day

since the flowering is so profuse and requires constant water.  There are sixteen

greenhouses filled with plants.  The one above is the main display room.

There are thirteen basic types of mums.  The above is a "Spider Mum" entitled "Lava,"

and it was one of the featured blossoms of this festival.

This is your first view of the main display room.  The white domes are each single

chrysanthemum plants with a single stem and trained to bloom with 500 blossoms.

There is a video on YouTube which shows how this is done.

This is one single plant with 500 blossoms which have been trained to stand out

in a metal display rack.

White Decorative Mums

Bed of Princess Emma Spider Mums

Princess Emma Spider Mum

White Anemone Mum Tree.  This is a single plant which has been
pinched and pruned of all leaves and flowers except for the clusters
at the top and bottom of the plant.

Honey Glow Decorative Mums

Honey Glow Decorative Mum

Yellow Blanket Mums
These mumss are in planters at top; as they grow, the ends are weighted with fishing weights
to gradually pull them down and hold them until they become thick blankets of flowers.

Golden Glow Irregular Incurve Mums

Golden Glow Mum

"The Grand Mum."  This is a single plant with 1,416 blossoms on it.

It has been in training for a year and blooms like this for all of November.

Close-up of Yellow Decorative Mums

Seaton's Galaxy Spider Mum

Seaton's Galaxy Spider Mums

Interior of Greenhouse

"Fifth Dimension Exotic Hibiscus."  There is also a large greenhouse

filled with exotic hibiscus plants.

"Aztec Yellow Exotic Hibiscus."

Bed of "Lava Spider Mums" in Main Conservatory.

These were my favorites in the show.

Lava Spider Mum

Lavender Ground Orchids.

There is also a large greenhouse for hundreds of blooming orchids.

Trio of large orchids.

Spray of orchids.

Yofire Island Decorative Mums

"Pelee Decorative Mums."  These were some of my favorites also,

with very short stems and large bright blossoms.

Pelee Decorative Mums

"White Furball Mum."  This is covered in soft white hairs, which

makes it look like a kitten curled up.  Technically, it is an

Irregular White Inward Curve Mum, but I like its

nickname much better.

This is a "Golden Globe" Regular Inward Curve Mum.

It must be a perfect sphere, and this one is.

This is a perfect Lavender Regular Inward Curve Mum,

which is titled "Felicity."

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I hope you have enjoyed the first hour tour of the

Chrysanthemum Festival.  More to come!

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