Messina White Chrysanthemum

White Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum 'Messina'

(kris-AN-the-mum)

This mum is again proving to be an early bloomer. We were on the hunt for some color for next weekend and got a few of these. There is a big party at the Greenwich estate next weekend and a few early Chrysanthemums certainly brightened up the landscape. There is still a good assortment of flowers out in the garden now. The Japanese Anemones, Black-eyed Susans and Asters are putting on a good show. The shrub roses and even some Hydrangea have been hanging on.

I really got a feeling for the people that have to grow these types of plants on a timely basis. There are a couple hundred of Chrysanthemums that have wintered over in the garden (for the last couple of years) and I have been sweating getting them to bloom next weekend. In truth I have only been partially successful in the color end of the equation a lot will be blooming over the next couple of weeks, which is partially due to just being later strains of mums.

Since it Sunday here are a couple black and white pictures as the bonus snapshots. The first is just a collection of bamboo stakes and it looked cooler and more geometric in real life. The exposure was a little difficult to manage with the bright natural light from the top. Both of these were taken with my Coolpix 8400, which generally does pretty well in monochrome.

This next shot is an interior shot of Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West, Florida.

I am not much of a military tour person but found the history and set up of this fort interesting.