Chrysanthemum Show and Opening Lecture at the Smith Botanic Garden

Smith College's annual Chrysanthemum Show will take place at Lyman Plant House from Saturday, November 7, through Sunday, November 22.

This year's show will be kicked off Friday, November 6, with a lecture by Claire Sawyers, director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, titled "Celebrating the American Landscape: Lessons from Japanese Gardens." The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. in Seelye Hall, Room 106, and is free and open to the public.

An experienced gardener, writer, lecturer, and traveler, Sawyers has gardened in France, Belgium and Japan. She has written numerous articles for horticultural journals and was a guest editor of three handbooks for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden: "Japanese Gardens"; "American Gardens, A Travelers' Guide"; and "Gardening with Wildflowers and Native Plants."

Following Sawyers' lecture will be a reception in the Lyman Plant House, along with a performance of "shakuhachi," a form of classical Japanese flute playing, by Matthew Winer in the newly rededicated Japanese Tea Hut. Guided walks to the Japanese Tea Hut will leave the Lyman Plant House every half-hour beginning at 7 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, Winer will perform in the Plant House.

A popular college and community tradition since the beginning of this century, the Chrysanthemum Show will feature a variety of mums, including hybrids produced in Smith horticulture classes as long ago as the 1930s, as well as those begun as seedlings by last year's students. A variety of multi-color chrysanthemums-including footballs, spiders and pom-poms-also will be on display.

Highlighting the show are the cascade chrysanthemums, which are grown in the Japanese manner on a flat surface and hang down about four feet over the edge of the pot. In bloom, the cascade chrysanthemum appears to be a blanket of color. Because their training is laborious and time-consuming, cascades are a rare sight in this country.

The Lyman Plant House, on College Lane across from Paradise Pond, is wheelchair accessible and open to the public year-round from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Admission is free.

For more information, please contact the Botanic Garden at (413) 585-2740.