In early November, I visited Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA,
which is 13 miles west of Wilmington, DE. The Dupont family had a number
of estates in this area, and one of the Duponts became interested
in horticulture. He began to erect greenhouses, and today there are
22 greenhouses covering 4 acres and displaying some of the
most beautiful flowers in the world.
This is the South Facade and entrance to Longwood Gardens Conservatories.
There are three magnificent display rooms and then 19 working greenhouses,
which guests are welcome to visit. The Gardens put on a number of
special shows during the year, but the greatest of all is the
Chrysanthemum Festival, which I went to see.
This is the Main Showroom. Over the years, the Gardens have developed
hundreds of varieties of chrysanthemums in many colors. I had seen the festival
briefly in the past, but this year I had a chance to live with it for two full days
and take lots of photos. In the lower part of the picture are
Intermediate Incurve Lavender Mums and Yellow Thistle Mums.
The Gardens have borrowed techniques from the Chinese, who first developed the chrysanthemum. One of the special traditions is the preparation of the 1000 Blossom Mum. A video on the Gardens' website describes how this is done. This is a single plant, above, which has been carefully pruned and trained for 14 months and is in a metal display cage. You can see the single stem and root system in pot below.
This is another example of the technique using three different colors, which have been grafted onto a single stem. It is called "The Shield." You can look below and see the single stem in soil. These two examples do not actually have 1000 flowers, but make use of the technique. There is an actual plant with 1000 blossoms, which has been in training for 17 months.
And the showrooms are then filled with many kinds and colors of chrysanthemums. Almost all of them are different from Chicago, where all the mums are out-of-doors. These are Lavender Anemone Mums.
One small bed of Lavender Anemone Mums.
A Copper Frilled Mum.
A Peach and Yellow Anemone Mum.
Copper Anemone Mums
But I'll admit, my favorites are the Spider Mums and the Rain Mums. These specialized varieties have long tubular petals which create fantastic images and come in many colors. The beautiful flower above is the Spider Mum entitled "Golden Splendor." The Gardens must like them too, because there were huge beds of them.
A bed of "Golden Splendor Spider Mums."
"Golden Splendor" Spider Mum. This is about 12 inches in diameter.
This gorgeous flower, which is about 10" in diameter, is a Yellow "Intermediate Incurve Mum." These are mums which have been developed to have their petals curve inward and upward, rather than down and out. There are varieties of mums in each of those categories and in different colors.
Lavender Intermediate Incurve Mum
An Anemone Star Mum in Pink and White.
Bed of Pink and Purple Star Mums
Western Bushfire Mum
Spread among the mums are some other flowers for contrast. This is a wine and peach Calla Lily.
Hot Pink and Yellow Anemone Mums
Yellow Anemone Mums
White Daisy Mum.
Bed of White Daisy Mums
.
For contrast, this is the Exotic Mum "White Icicles." It is about 8 inches in diameter.
Copper and Gold Intermediate Incurve Mum.
Here it is! This is the "1000 Blossom Mum" with truly 1000 flowers.
This is a single plant which has been pruned and trained for 17 months and
then displayed in a special rack. It has one stem which you can see, and it is
timed to bloom the first three weeks in November - when I was there.
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