Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden Returns to New York Botanical Garden

Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden, the acclaimed fall exhibition, is returning with magnificent to the New York Botanical Garden this October with displays of gorgeous chrysanthemums, according to a press release.

The exhibit will run from October 8-30, 2016 at the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Guests can expect magnificent displays of chrysanthemums in awe-inspiring shapes and styles. Kiku, the Japanese word for “chrysanthemum,” is the most celebrated of all Japanese fall-flowering plants, and the exhibit will celebrate the flower’s rich history.

Botanical Garden experts work up to 11 months each year to grow, train and shape the kiku on display. Cultivated from tiny cuttings, the plants are pinched back, tied to frames and carefully nurtured. The display pays homage to hanami, the traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, and visitors will learn about the history of the chrysanthemum as it traveled from its native China to Japan and ultimately to the West.

There will be three traditional kiku styles displayed in the Haupt Conservatory:

Ozukuri (Thousand Bloom): In this highly complex technique, a single stem is trained to produce hundreds of simultaneous blossoms in a massive, dome-shaped array.

Kengai (Cascade): This technique features small-flowered chrysanthemums which are trained to conform to boat-shaped frameworks that cascade downward like waterfalls for lengths of up to six-and-a-half feet.

Ogiku (Double and Triple Stem): These plants feature enormous individual flowers perched at the ends of stems up to six feet tall.