garden : kiku

singular in number : creates many : incredible blooms

Ohayo : Good Morning -

The best gift Scott ever gave to me was a $35 membership to the New York Botanical Garden. Over the years, we have spent countless hours exploring the "Disneyland" of botanical gardens. Currently, they have a magnificent exhibit featuring kiku, which is the art of the Japanese chrysanthemum. This is what they say about it -

"The chrysanthemum, known as kiku, is perhaps the most revered of the fall-flowering plants in Japan. For centuries the secrets of its cultivation were carefully guarded. But during a five-year cultural exchange, The New York Botanical Garden learned the time-honored growing techniques and display styles to become the first garden outside of Japan to showcase the art of kiku in the Imperial style."

We visited the exhibit this week (luckily, before the winds and rain this weekend) and I wanted to share some photos with you. There was also a wonderful Bonsai exhibit in the Conservatory and I'll have those pics next time. Hope you all had a very nice weekend!

Matane : See you, Cindy

Conservatory

Bamboo sculpture by artist Tetsunori Kawana


A web of bamboo.


Shino-tsukuri : driving rain. Each color group = one plant!


So tall and straight.


Ogiku : single-stem.


Bonsai.


Chrysanthemums and stones.


Feels like an ocean of blooms hitting the breakers.


Fall color.


Golden.


Delicate bloom.


Ozukuri : thousand bloom. Each color group = one plant!


This is my favorite style.


Kengai : cascade. Each color group = one plant!


Bonsai.


Chrysanthemums and stones.


Fall color.