Kiku at the New York Botanical Garden

Kiku at the New York Botanical Garden

Chrysanthemum Festival in the Bronx, 2007

Kiku in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards.

On Sunday I attended the Kiku Chrysanthemum Show at the New York Botanical Garden. I want to first say that I didn’t take in the whole show and only spent about two and half hours at the garden so this by the nature of my visit can’t be a complete review.

Stone and Kiku garden display. Very creative.

I printed my on-line free member tickets the night before and they give you a choice of admission times at 15-minute intervals. I chose 10:15 and was one of the first people inside. By the time I left the Conservatory at noon it was getting packed. I was very impressed by the flowers being displayed. They were probably some of the most beautiful Chrysanthemums I have seen. Once the crowds started to arrive it was very difficult to see the booths the flowers were in and I think the people were kept a little too far away from them. If you want to take some close ups you better bring a lens longer than the 70mm I had.

Be prepared for large crowds.

The big Chrysanthemums that had around 175 flowers were amazing. The growing of these plants is something I don’t think I could do, way too tedious. I actually liked the cascade mum display better. I think I have seen those at the garden before. They were more natural looking and they had a few more varieties to look at.

Among the Chrysanthemum booths there were numerous cultivars of Japanese Maples. Some were starting to show their stunning fall color. Interspersed inside the Maples were different and interesting Bonsai trees. Inside the Conservatory in the area were the seasonal displays are located there were more Bonsai trees and two of the big Chrysanthemums that you could get a little closer to. The lighting wasn’t the greatest for photography.

In general I didn’t have a good day with the camera. That used to frustrate the heck out of me but now I just let it roll off. I enjoyed seeing the flowers and it was a lovely day to tour the garden so I will just leave it at.


As I said this isn’t meant to be a complete review of the Kiku exhibit. I will go back when the hype dies down a little bit for a more extended look around. Here is a link to the show:
nybg.org/kiku
I would encourage everybody to attend and form their own opinions. For me it was worthwhile and fascinating.

I will be posting a few more pictures when I get a chance to go through them.