Chrysanthemums are native to China, but the country that warmly embraced this signature fall bloomer is Japan. The Japanese emperor’s crest features a chrysanthemum with 16 petals, and the flower also appears on Japanese passports.
Today,10/17 Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens opens its Fall Flower Show, featuring 75 varieties of mums and a glimpse of how the Japanese cultivate and train this beautiful flower.
‘Paint box,’ a vivid orange mum, is a favorite of Laura Schoch, a display horticulturist who designed the show. It is one of the stars of the Palm Court, where visitors will see vibrant red, orange and purple mums surrounded by metal lanterns with flickering candles. Heightening the effect overhead are red, orange and purple origami cranes. It’s particularly lovely at night — Phipps is open until 10 p.m. Fridays through the show’s end on Nov. 8.
The Gallery is decorated in red and white, traditional colors of the Japanese chrysanthemum festival held in September. Above the plants are white peace cranes made of a recyclable Tyvek material; the Origami Club of Pittsburgh helped create them.
The Sunken Garden is filled with towers of cascading mums and waves of 120 Japanese umbrellas called wagasa.
The Victoria Room features the Japanese royal crest floating in a large pond. A zen atmosphere pervades the East Room, where an overhead arch is filled with ‘Golden Pinwheel’ mums. There is also a waterfall, red footbridge and lantern, all framed by orange and coral mums.
This year’s show also offers oval-shaped shields filled with cascading mums and blooms that have been staked and clipped for several months so that one terminal bud grows as tall and graceful as a ballet dancer.
In several exhibit rooms, chrysanthemums are set off by coral bells (Heuchera), a hardy perennial that blooms in several shades. Cultivars used here include ‘Citronelle,’ ‘Mega Caramel’ and ‘Obsidian.’ Bird’s nest ferns, which offer light and dark shades of green, complement the mums.
One of the standouts of this show is not a mum. The Broderie Room features Mexican bush sage, whose name fails to evoke the graceful beauty of its pink or purple blooms and spiky green leaves.
The fall show takes a year to plan and design. Mums are grown in the greenhouses for five months to achieve the desired height and length. About six weeks before the show is installed, blackout curtains are used to trick the plants into thinking the days are growing shorter so that they begin developing buds.
The fall flower show lasts just 23 days, but the Garden Railroad exhibition runs through Feb. 28. Tons of soil were trucked in and then graded to create the hills and valleys.
Jordyn Melino chose the fairy tales and fables theme, creating a Lilliputian landscape to match the miniature characters and trains. There are wee juniper shrubs and variegated boxwood. A miniature tire swing hangs from a tiny ficus. All of the signage is in the style of old-fashioned storybook covers.
Rapunzel’s stone tower stands near the home of the witch who locked her away. Plants around the witch’s house include black mondo grass and other spooky sprouts. The landscaping outside Goldilocks’ home also strikes the right tone because it consists of tiny yellow flowers.
An old brown work boot was upcycled to create the home for the old woman who lived in a shoe.
To reach Never Land, Peter Pan and Wendy fly over a large pond. Captain Hook’s sailing ship can be push-button activated by visitors, and tiny menacing crocodiles will pursue the vessel across the pond.
Other stories that come to life are Little Red Riding Hood and the lumberjack Paul Bunyan, accompanied by his blue ox, Babe. There’s a push-button activated saw mill near Paul Bunyan.
In July, the South Conservatory, built in 1896, was closed so it could undergo a $700,000 historic restoration, said Jason Wirick, director of facilities and sustainability. In the South Conservatory, the original glass was replaced with 16-inch-wide panes, and the roof was repaired. Now, new fleur-de-lis sprout from the South Conservatory to make it visually consistent with the rest of the complex.
Marylynne Pitz: 412-263-1648 or mpitz@post-gazette.com.
First Published: October 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
