Mums festival at Longwood Gardens

After a flurry of travel and other commitments, I'm finally able to get back to blogging about gardens and gardening again. We visited the annual Mums Festival at the Longwood Gardens about three weeks ago and I have to say I was really impressed by the fantastic display although I've not been a big fan of chrysanthemums previously.

The festival upped the ante for horticulture and landscaping in the recently expanded conservatory to a totally new level. The garden's horticulturists and volunteers have been painstakingly grafting hundreds of individual blooms of chrysanthemums onto single plants to create monumental arrangements for display since the previous summer. Unbelievable but true, each of these arrangements in the two pictures above have a single rooted plant supplying the nutrients to the fist-sized blooms covering the mushroom-shaped frame. One of the garden guides showed us the step-by-step process of an example of the grafting process, thanks to experts from Japan, which must have required an army of volunteers to graft, deadhead, and nurture these displays day and night over 18 months to get them to such a state of perfection.   

Apart from the remarkable displays of human control and ingenuity over these floral displays, the conservatory also featured a dizzying variety of heirloom species of chrysanthemums with all the shades of the color wheel one can think of and in different shapes and forms. These exhibits truly demonstrate the wonderful diversity in the chrysanthemum family beyond the typical garden center varieties of white, yellow and purple mums. 
 

My favorite was the purple peony-style chrysanthemums in one of the photographs below. Each bloom was as big as a toddler's head and some needed additional support to prevent them from flopping over with the weight of the bloom. Other varieties featured spaghetti-like or lacy and stringy petals it's hard to imagine these are all part of the same family of flowers.

This was certainly an enjoyable and educational visit and as usual, Longwood has put on a spectacular and crowd-pleasing exhibit. After visiting this year's Mums Fest, I'll have to find out where I can get my hands on one of these heirloom varieties for next year's growing season... 

What's blooming in the yard

It has been unseasonably warm this winter and some of the hardier plants are still sending out colorful blooms even in December! I'm definitely enjoying these for a few more weeks at least.

Succulent arrangement

This was my most challenging attempt in putting together a succulent arrangement yet. We got a wire basket from Western Massachusetts that I layered with sphagnum moss and filled with potting soil. Then I carefully inserted tiny cuttings of Graptopetalums and small Aeoniums into the sides through the small spaces. Some of them made it, others just fell off without much support. But overall, I was pretty pleased with the way it somehow came together. Over the main opening, what I call the 'well', I potted the larger cuttings and plants such as Crassulas and Echeverias together to add some height to the arrangement. And finally, some lovely Senecios and Sedums that would cascade over the borders over time. I'm hoping this would stay healthy, at least as long as the wire basket stays intact!

Cool colors in the fall

As the unusually warm weather starts giving way to cooler temperatures, the hot reds and yellows in our garden has gently faded. But without fail, these behind-the-scenes subtle blooms are still beautiful to enjoy on a sunny day.

Succulent arrangement

This was a more unusual and somewhat challenging succulent arrangement because it's in a wicker basket that I re-purposed from a gift hamper. I first made an inner lining with double-layers of plastic to keep the basket water-proof. Then, I filled the bottom with about one half-inch of river stones. The highlight is the mysterious-looking Echeveria 'Black Prince' with burgundy tips and a luminous green center. It sits in its own 4-inch container which I buried in the basket to keep the roots separate in case I have to move it at some stage. Next, I planted a ring of Sempervivum arachnoideum around it, followed by other Sempervivums, Sedums burrito, Senecio rowleyanus, and Crassula perforata in opposing diagonals. 

With all the plants in place, I trimmed off the excess around the plastic lining as close to the edge of the basket as possible, and tucked the plastic into the basket. Finally, to hide the plastic lining and give it a finished look, the arrangement is dressed with some white gravel and given a little (just a little) water to help the roots settle in. This makes a wonderful, low-maintenance, dining table decorative arrangement that can be reused for multiple occasions. In between events, just leave in a sunny spot outdoors or near a window and keep it happy and lovely.   

Chanticleer Butterflies

These beautiful butterflies were spotted as they were busy gathering their nourishment from the summer blooms in the always lush Chanticleer Gardens. Enjoy!

 

Succulent arrangement

Here's a new succulent arrangement I put together recently. The focus here is on the lovely Echeveria Tippy in the front. It has the tiniest red-tinged tips as if a manicurist had carefully painted on some nail polish. An assortment of Echeveria, Sedum burrito, and Haworthia serve as the supporting cast in this arrangement in a light brown glazed bonsai pot. The sandy topping and smooth pebbles complete the picture.