Fall in Toronto: mums, pumpkins and tropical hibiscus
We're very firmly entrenched in another Toronto autumn with Hallowe'en just around the corner, so what's this about hibiscus?
Such a combination comes together right now within the cozy confines of the Allan Gardens Conservatory during its annual autumn chrysanthemum show.
I confess that "mums" aren't my favourite flowers, especially these type of "floral muffins ("mum-fins"?)" seen everywhere in the city over the past month:
They do bridge the time between frost-zapped summer plantings and Christmas arrangements in containers but while they can handle periodic nips of frost, there's little grace in their form. And they look lousy once the flowers turn brown so the solution for most homeowners is to toss them out during compost pickup day.
On the other end of the spectrum are the Show or Exhibition Chrysanthemums which are babied and fussed over to perfection, like this diva:
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| White incurve chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
I spent a few hours one morning last week at the Conservatory enjoying this year's Chrysanthemum Show. (It runs until November 6 if you're in the Toronto area and want to drop by.) The theme this year seems to me "autumn's harvest" so while I'll miss not seeing Hello Kitty who graced our presence during last year's show, there were lots of pumpkins to get us into the seasonal mood.
Here are some highlights showing some of the more than 80 varieties of show mums, according to the Conservatory's Facebook page. Labels of cultivar names are rarely provided for visitors by the Conservatory so if you have a gripe...
(A great resource for all things Chrysanthemum is the National Chrysanthemum Society's website. You can learn about the 13 classifications of Show Mums and throw out terms like "incurve" or "reflex" during your next dinner party and see where it leads!)
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| Awwww, you love your mum too? |
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| Getting ready for Hallowe'en with this "mum-o-latern" |
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| How can I describe her skirt? "Gaudy?" "Gourdy?" |
I really enjoy how the flowers are massed for maxi-"mum" (sorry) effect. While flower shows are not really about gardening (maybe more about floral arts, floriculture or floristry), you can still take home the message of a good garden design principle or two to avoid the rookie mistake of buying and placing one plant here, another there.
Or, as I like to tell my clients, "let's fill that bed up!"
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| Massed mums on display at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Massed orange and yellow chrysanthemums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Massed orange and yellow mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Massed white mums on display at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Masses of white and orange single mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Orange and red single chrysanthemums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| "Your friendly neighbourhood Spidermum..." |
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| Orange anemone chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Orange spider mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Pale purple loose incurve mum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| I know it's just me but I see dollops of rich butter here |
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| Pink incurve chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Mums in the pumpkin patch or vice versa? |
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| Purple centred white single mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Purple incurve mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Soft yellow incurve chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| In case you're wondering, the background is the stem of a huge banana tree. Hey, I'm trying to be artsy! |
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| White and purple single mums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Some autumnal fireworks |
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| White spider chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| White spoon chrysanthemums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Yellow incurve chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Yellow single chrysanthemums at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| Yellow spider chrysanthemum at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Chrysanthemum Show |
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| "Flowers" composed of flowers, very meta! |
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| "Harvesting" ornamental cabbage and kale. I like his hat! |
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| Farmer mannequin at 2016 Allan Gardens Conservatory Fall Mum Show |
If you're still not dazed yet and want to see more mums from previous flower shows at the Conservatory, here are some links to my older posts:
Memories of the Caribbean
We can all have too much of a good thing so having my fill of mums for this year, I walked a few meters into one of the Conservatory's tropical hot house rooms hoping to see some flowers in bloom. It's been about a year since Linda and I went on a cruise to ports of call like St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Maarten so memories of Caribbean flowers are still fresh on my mind. Lucky for me (and you, dear reader), some hibiscus and shrimp plants were accommodating!
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| Golden Shrimp Plant (Pachystachys lutea) |
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| Pachystachys lutea cultivar (Golden Shrimp Plant) |
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| Pale orange tropical Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower |
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| Pink tropical Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower |
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| Spider lily (Hymenocallis longipetala) blooms |
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| Tropical hibiscus rosa-sinensis double flower |
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| Tropical Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower |
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| Red tropical Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flower |
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