In the fall, we look forward to apple-picking (with hot cider and cider doughnuts), fall foliage and the return of the New York Botanical Garden's tribute to chrysanthemums, Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden.
For three weeks, the NYBG's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory puts on a dazzling display of the fall-flowering plants (kiku is chrysanthemum in Japanese), from simple, elegant forms to extravagant designs like bridges, cascades, and the show-stopping "ozukuri" dome, which features hundred of blooms from one stem.
The garden's team has been working for the past 11 months to grow and cultivate the plants, and Todd Forest, the Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections, assured us that repeat visitors won't be disappointed. "We try to arrange the show differently so that what people might have seen before, they might not have realized they've seen before because it seems so fresh and new and in a new context," he told Gothamist.
(Christopher Lee / Gothamist)
The NYBG first presented Kiku in 2007, and as Forrest wryly noted, "I'm not sure anybody else is crazy enough to try to do this for as long as we've done this."
Kiku celebrates both the Japanese horticultural tradition and culture, and there are a number of programs—taiko drumming; haiku, calligraphy and manga workshops; meditation walks—to aid your enjoyment of the gardens. There are also Kiku Evenings, where ticket prices include a special sake cocktail.
Kiku opens on Friday, October 8, and runs through October 30.
Additional reporting by Christopher Lee
