As I mentioned yesterday, I went back over the mountain to the awesome Milmont Greenhouses today. It was customer appreciation day, thanking everyone for 40 years! My good friend KY wasn’t able to come with me today, but I decided to go because it was a lovely cool, overcast, autumn day. I was not disappointed. They had huge crowds, and so I had to park a bit away, but as soon as I exited the car I was greeted with one of my favorite smells…..barbecued chicken. Believe it or not, I had so much fun walking around the grounds I completely forgot to go get some. Same went for the homemade donuts, breads, and homemade apple butter boiling away. It was such fun to watch all the children race to find their perfect pumpkin, and boy did they have choices, as they got to pick from a pick-your-own pumpkin patch. Below are photos from my afternoon.
Pumpkin poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)
But there is something I’ll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?
(I’m so relieved since I have found
That pumpkins only grow in the ground!) via
This is the main entrance to the indoor shop, and it was all changed out from summer flowers to Mums and Ornamental Kale. The fountain in the center was perfect for this autumn greeting.
This was right next to the space seen above.
Closeup of the mini pumpkins and gourds from the basket in one of the above photos.
I like ornamental cabbage. Only drawback is when a hard frost finally gets it, whew….it stinks! Worth it. I always think mine will survive the frost, so instead of pulling it and composting, I take a chance and sure enough, the frost reduces it to a mushy, smelly mess. It is a cabbage…..
Sure are pretty aren’t they?
The Last Chrysanthemum – by Thomas Hardy
Why should this flower delay so long
To show its tremulous plumes?
Now is the time of plaintive robin-song,
When flowers are in their tombs.
Through the slow summer, when the sun
Called to each frond and whorl
That all he could for flowers was being done,
Why did it not uncurl?
It must have felt that fervid call
Although it took no heed,
Waking but now, when leaves like corpses fall,
And saps all retrocede.
Too late its beauty, lonely thing,
The season’s shine is spent,
Nothing remains for it but shivering
In tempests turbulent.
Had it a reason for delay,
Dreaming in witlessness
That for a bloom so delicately gay
Winter would stay its stress?
– I talk as if the thing were born
With sense to work its mind;
Yet it is but one mask of many worn
By the Great Face behind.
- As soon as anyone picked up a Mum to purchase, a nursery worker replaced the empty space with another one from this staging area. They opened at 8am, I arrived at about noon, and it looked fully stocked. No matter what time you got there, they wanted you to see how beautiful the masses of flowers were. People had full carts of flowers to take home everywhere you looked. It was quite impressive.
There were thousands of Mum’s of almost every type. The only ones I didn’t see were Spider and Exotic. However, as far as color choices and varities, there was something for everyone…….and they were huge!
Below are some more of the photos I took. Tomorrow I will post on some of the other fall flowers available and lots of fun things that were going on today……I took soooo many photos it was difficult to get it down to a reasonable number, but I hope you enjoyed this taste of autumn. I also will share some photos near the Blue Ridge Parkway, where I stopped at a scenic overlook. The light is always different, and today was no exception.
Will you look at the size of the ones in the top rows! We used to call them cushion Mums, but they are so large for the pot, they look more like muffins.
My favorite in this grouping is the bright purple one, bottom left….smallest sized pot. I purchased one last visit, planted it, it grew, and looks gorgeous right now in my garden.
I hope you enjoyed this photo tour. It was cool and crisp and I had such a good time. Believe it or not, I resisted coming home with any more plants. When I went in late summer (you can see that post here) I purchased a lot of perennials and a few mums then, and I am pretty well planted for now in the gardens. But boy, it was tempting! Laters, charisse
For more information of the types of Mums, visit the National Chrysanthemum Society
For a guide on caring and planting Mums, check out this article here
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“Oh My!” indeed! My favorite time of year. Saturday was Mum day for us as well. Not so lovely a shopping trip as you had. We visited a nearby store to purchase MORE mums for our back yard and Robert planted them quickly before sunset. We could just spend a fortune on them! Your garden center looks like the place to be!! We would love that store! Carole has shared mums with us from her garden this year. That is very special to us.
We plan to drive over to the Biltmore for another mum-fix today while we walk the Shelties. Love your photos and enthusiasm. I visited the website that you shared concerning the care of mums. Very interesting. I learned a lot. Can’t wait for more pics. Victoria
I bet your garden looks amazing with the Mums added, especially sweet because of the gifted ones. Always the best! I bet Biltmore is amazing in the fall, like in the spring tons of color. One of my favorite places. Have fun!
Thanks for sharing! It really is an awesome nursery so sorry I wasn’t with you…….