Every autumn, the luminous courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum transforms into a breathtaking garden of gold, rust, and crimson. The John Lowell Gardner Chrysanthemum Installation is on view now through November, filling the heart of the Venetian-style palazzo with a riot of glorious color and surprising shapes.
This floral celebration is a Gardner tradition stretching back more than a century, to when Isabella herself lived in the palace. Each spring, the museum’s horticulture team starts over 500 terracotta pots of chrysanthemums from cuttings in off-site greenhouses, then spends the summer meticulously pruning, training, and fertilizing them for their autumn debut.
The undisputed stars are the Single Stem Chrysanthemums: singular, grapefruit-sized blooms with sculpture-like petals crowning statuesque stems more than four feet tall. They are grown using ogiku, a demanding Japanese pruning technique that makes the Gardner one of only a handful of institutions in the United States to practice this art.
The flowers inspire music, too. On Sunday, October 25, Calderwood Hall hosts “Celebrating Chrysanthemums,” a special concert with readings and performances ranging from Massenet and Puccini to Scott Joplin, led by the museum’s horticulture and music directors. The museum is open Wednesday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Thursday evenings until 9 p.m.
Photo: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
