Druid Hill Conservatory Chrysanthemum Show

The Chrysanthemum Show at at Baltimore's Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens (aka Druid Hill Park Conservatory), an annual fall event, shows off the diversity of the mum.

For 2007 the Baltimore City parks department honors the mum's roots in China with a Oriental-themed display of mums of all sorts including spoon tips, spiders, incurves and more.

First cultivated as a flowering herb, the mum is mentioned in writings as early as the 15th century B.C. The Chinese believed the mum to have the power of life. Likewise, Japanese view it as a sign of long life and happiness. But in Belgium, Austria and Italy, the chrysanthemum is the flower of death.

Free to the public, the Conservatory's annual November display ends shortly after Thanksgiving to make room for the Poinsettia Show and Sale in December.

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