Wednesday, October 15, 2014

October Flowers in Chicago



The Chicago Botanic Gardens are filled with thousands of flowers in brilliant bloom.
These beds are along the Esplanade and in their rich colors, they look like
Persian carpets.  There are six colors of chrysanthemums here.



There are ten large beds of these Persian Carpet Mums.




The entrance to the Gardens is across a bridge hung with curtains of white mums.
Mums can be trained to grow in almost any shape from single large blossoms to
pyramids, to huge pots, to hanging curtains.



Boxes of white mums also line the bridge.




Pots of brilliantly colored mums are found throughout the Gardens.
These are saffron yellow mums.




This is one of six pots by the entrance with Autumn Bronze Mums.




Close-up of the Autumn Bronze Mums.




The next stop is the Heritage Gardens.  This is a North American Sunflower.
It is a new variety which stands only three feet high




Yellow Calendula / Pot Marigold




Calendula  /  Pot Marigold




Blue Potato Vine.  The Potato family of plants includes many decorative varieties.
This is a beautiful blue variety.




Decorative Kale.  The Gardens try to plant only specimens which are hardy and
can take a Chicago winter.  They also like to mix vegetables and flowers,
and the results are interesting and beautiful.  These kale come with purple,
pink, or white centers.




One of the many varieties of Black Eyed Susans  /  Rudbeckia.




Golden Queen Globeflower





Strawflowers in the English Garden



Pale Blue Waterlily.  The waterlily ponds were filled with many colors of flowers.




White Waterlily.  Some of these open at night as female plants, get pollinated by bugs
overnight, and the next day they turn male before dying.
It said so on the tag!




Starlet Spoon Korean Mums
This was one of the featured varieties throughout the Gardens this year.
Korean Mums are particularly hardy  and prolific bloomers, and they do
very well in Chicago winters, surviving easily outdoors in gardens.




Autumn Crocus - Lavender Lady.  What a delight!  These bulbs stay quiet and
underground all spring and summer; then in late September, they appear through
the groundcover and bloom prolifically.  These are Waterlily Autumn Crocus.





Two clumps of Lavender Lady Autumn Crocus



Giant Multicolored Autumn Crocus




White Waterlily Autumn Crocus




Guernsey Lilies




Blue Floss Flowers  /  Ageratum




"Cheerleader"  Football Mums




"Cheerleader"  Football Mums





"Delphine" Pink Rose




"Princess Margaret" red and white rose




White York Rose





"Hot Cocoa"  Rose





"Elegance"  Rose



Walled English Garden, Urn, and Black-Eyed Susans



Raspberry and Vanilla Panicle Hydrangea



Raspberry  Panicle  Hydrangea





Sassy Black-Eyed Susans



"Callie Dahlia"



"Bahama Mama"  Dahlia  in  the  Bulb  Garden



"Diva" deep purple dahlia  in  Bulb  Garden



"Junkyard Dog Dahlia."  I don't know where the name came from,
but is on all the ID tags in the garden.  But it's beautiful and large.


"Louie Meggos"  Dinner Plate Mum - 12 inches across

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We discovered three new houses in the Lincoln Park Area of Chicago's Near North Side.



The Parillo Palace at 1932 N. Burling.



The Wilson House at 550 W. Dickens



The Mullins Mansion at 1955 N. Burling.
This one is for sale.

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Day  One  at  the  Chicago  Botanic  Gardens
I hope you enjoyed the flowers.



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