Class 11 Spider chrysanthemum in the Nolen Greenhouses, 2010
Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 5, the mesmerizing art of kiku returns to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory as part of Fall Flowers of Japan. These Japanese chrysanthemums, trained into a dizzying array of styles and displays, are not to be missed. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
On Wednesday, October 5, dozens of Japanese chrysanthemums, or kiku, trained into a variety of styles and displays will join Fall Flowers of Japan in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory! Don’t miss this mesmerizing floral display. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
A Class 7 chrysanthemum in the Nolen Greenhouses, 2010
A display of kiku, the mesmerizing art of trained Japanese chrysanthemums, will join Fall Flowers of Japan in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory on October 5! In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
Japanese chrysanthemums in the Nolen Greenhouses, 2010
Beginning October 5, Fall Flowers of Japan will feature a dazzling display of kiku in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory! Don’t miss these magnificent Japanese chrysanthemums trained to grow in a mesmerizing variety of shapes and styles. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
A couple of us hopped a golf cart over to the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections last Friday, hoping to catch a peek at Kodai Nakazawa’s chrysanthemum sculptures before horticulture carefully moved them off to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. I use the word “sculptures” because it’s the most accurate way to explain Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden—a simple “flower” designation doesn’t do the plants justice in the context of this exhibition.
Each mountain, or waterfall, or burst of fireworks begins as a single young chrysanthemum, tediously cared for and trained into myriad forms by Nakazawa. Some designs are original, some informed by centuries of tradition. But each one is the end result of one of horticulture’s highest arts, a discipline our visiting gardener learned from experts at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.
Captured under glass in an intimate snapshot of a generations-old artform, this year’s Kiku collection is now up and running in the Bourke-Sullivan Display House, a wing of the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections at the NYBG. And as exhibitions go, this one–as always–is a vital testament to the heights of beauty and expertise that horticulture can reach.
Like so many of our exhibitions, Nolen’s master horticulturists have spent months behind the scenes, sculpting and training otherwise commonplace flowers into shapes unlike anything seen in a workaday home garden. Thousands of chrysanthemum blooms across a rainbow of colors now take on the forms of Ogiku, Ozukuri, and Shino-Tsukuri. Now, those names may strike mysterious chords at first, but they’re easy enough to understand–if not recreate–once you spend a little time with our handy, dandy primer.
Shino-tsukuri display of kiku in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyard, 2008
There are only three more days before the beautiful kiku join the serene Fall Flowers of Japan in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. On Wednesday, October 5, these specially trained Japanese chrysanthemums, or kiku will go on display. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
Kengai display in the Leon Levy Visitor Center, 2010
On October 5, kiku will join Fall Flowers of Japan in the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory! Don’t miss these magnificent Japanese chrysanthemums trained to grow in a mesmerizing variety of shapes and styles. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
A dazzling display of kiku will join Fall Flowers of Japan in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory beginning October 5. Don’t miss these magnificent Japanese chrysanthemums trained to grow in a mesmerizing variety of shapes and styles. In anticipation, we’re taking an in-depth look at these fascinating flowers.
