Fall Flowers in Chicago

The "Circle Garden" is one of my favorites among the 26 gardens, 

which make up the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

Mums and asters and decorative kale and pampas grass and dahlias.

"Sonata White" Cosmos

"Golden Glow" Garden Mums

Cucumber Leaf Sunflower, pale yellow.

"Brown Eyes" Garden Mums

"Rosy Glow" Korean Mums - extra hardy and prolific

"Maryl" Spoon Mums

Yellow Climbing Rose

Apricot Delight

Strawflowers - dry easily and stay colorful all winter inside.

"Poodle Skirt" Dahlia

"White Icicle" Dahlia

"Blutiful" Dahlia in bluish-purple, about six inches across

Ornamental  Peppers

"Mambo" Orange Ornamental Peppers

"Henry III" pink Milka Asters

"Peter III" Blue Milka Asters

"Henry III" and "Peter III" Milka Asters in Enabling Garden

Pale Blue Woodland Asters  /  English Asters

White Woodland Asters

Pretty Lady Jane Pink Anemones

White Japanese Anemones

"Centerpiece" Korean Mums - delicate and frothy

"Bolero" Copper Mums

Pot of White Bridal Mums in McGinley Bridal Pavilion

Amata  Pink  Mums

King's Delight Korean Mums

Lady Laura Peruvian Lilies.  There are 190 varieties of these lilies, which you can buy

in any grocery store.  But this is the only variety which you can leave outdoors and

will survive a Chicago winter and bloom again next year.

Lemon Yellow Water Lily

Orange Harvest Glow Mums

Mums and Asters in the Circle Garden

Lemon Tart Korean Mums

Decorative Kale with White Centers

Giant Red Swamp Mallow - about 10 inches across

Starbright White Garden Mums in an urn.

Junkyard Dog Dahlia, shot against the sun

The Botanic Gardens believe anyone can have a garden, even though all you

have is a tiny plot or a patio.  They recommend these Wall Gardens for small

spaces and have a number of them on display with different plants to show

what can be done.  This one has vegetables and flowers.

Sweet Alyssum in a vertical wall garden.

St. Tropez Chrysanthemums

End of Day Two in the Chicago Botanic Gardens

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October Flowers in Chicago

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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Day  One  at  the  Chicago  Botanic  Gardens
I hope you enjoyed the flowers.



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