Saturday, October 29, 2011

fall and garden

This past week the Mum Show has been on at Gage Park. It is a long standing tradition, this show, but this year there was a change - namely a brand new greenhouse. It has been renamed The Hamilton Fall Garden and Mum Show and this year included varieties of coleus and poinsettia.
The theme this year was fire and there were displays with three different fire trucks
as well as old and new equipment planted in amongst the flowers








there is always a petal decorated animal and this year it was a cute firehouse dalmatian

and a fire breathing dragon that looks a bit like Nessie with wings
and what would a fire theme be without a fireplace setting. I loved the colourful and oh so soft cushions!


The greenhouse was only finished a month ago and these 13,000 or so hardy mums have had quite a journey to get here. Cuttings were taken from last year's mums and rooted in the old greenhouse, then transported to two other greenhouses during the demolition and construction. The new greenhouse is much bigger and is now a single, wide open space. Though I rather liked the element of surprise every time you turned a corner in the old one, this one is much brighter and it's nice to see everything at a glance and to be able to walk around the displays instead of everything being against a wall.
I, or rather the resident barn cat, gave a tour of a previous mum show a couple of years ago which you can read about here and see the difference in the space.
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13 comments:

  1. JeannetteLSOctober 29, 2011 at 6:52 PM

    What a wonderful place to be? Especially to me, today, as I watch the snow come down so very hard, here in Connecticut. We have six inches so far, and it will be snowing through the night. NEVER IN MY LIFE...

    Coleus and Chrysanthemums were among my mother's favorites. How she would have adored such a display! And my sister would have simply parked herself at the dragon and never left... She had a doll house which she furnished as it struck her, and on a roof balcony, she had a dragon.

    When someone asked, she looked so very surprised and said, "Well, doesn't every home have a watch dragon?"

    Have a beautiful weekend.

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  2. VioletSkyOctober 29, 2011 at 7:58 PM

    Jeannette: I have been following this snowstorm (it is completely bypassing us, whew). This will make it a long winter for you!

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  3. IreneOctober 29, 2011 at 9:11 PM

    Though I suppose the mums look very pretty, they always remind me of funerals, so they are my least favorite of all flowers. I would not enjoy going to a show of them very much. I'm surprised that you go every year, but then they probably don't have that association for you. By the way, the year flew by. It seems you were there on a short time ago.

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  4. VioletSkyOctober 29, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    Nora: I had forgotten that you associate mums with funerals until I looked up that old post so I could link it. Every year it is a different theme and is the best $5 entertainment!
    The years are flying by, aren't they?
    :(

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  5. geewitsOctober 30, 2011 at 3:27 AM

    That's cool! It's like going to one of the parades where all the floats are made of flowers. (Is that the Rose Parade?) Except everything is standing still.

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  6. GillyOctober 30, 2011 at 4:41 AM

    Those are absolutely gorgeous! I love the dark red/orange ones. They are one of my favourite flowers, probably because my birthday is in November, and we had them at our wedding as we were married in November, as well!

    But I have never seen them in such numbers, and made into chairs. They look SO comfortable!

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  7. GillyOctober 30, 2011 at 4:42 AM

    PS I've just spotted the dragon properly! he is amazing!

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  8. MeggieOctober 30, 2011 at 4:56 AM

    I loved the display. Mums are used her for Mother's Day, so are not a sad flower. How pretty they all look.

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  9. SueannOctober 30, 2011 at 5:10 AM

    What gorgeous displays!! I love the one with the love seat done with mums cushion!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  10. secret agent womanOctober 30, 2011 at 6:49 PM

    How beautiful. I always put in yellow mums in the fall.

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  11. VioletSkyOctober 30, 2011 at 7:01 PM

    Geewits: It is kind of like that, I hadn't thought of that before.

    Gilly: those darker red/orange ones are my favourite, too. by autumn I am ready for a change from pinks and purples.

    meggie: seems a perfectly logical choice for mother's day!

    SueAnn: those cushions on the love seat were beautiful. my photos don't do it justice. (seeing as how my other lens is still broken, I had to use my super wide angle which wasn't suitable except for getting the whole of the dragon in!)

    SAW: I usually have some on my balcony, this year they are yellow with dark red tips.

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  12. AnonymousOctober 31, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    This looks fabulous. I love autumn colours. The show depicts the vibrancy of these shades to perfection.

    CJ xx

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  13. Louis la VacheNovember 4, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    Fantastic mum displays!
    «Louis'» mother would have loved this. Mums were her favourite flowers.

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