Kay Chubbuck at JSTOR Daily:
Visitors encountering the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania often wonder what they are seeing.
From a distance, the plant appears to be an immense floral dome, composed of hundreds—if not a thousand—of carefully matched chrysanthemums. Each flower occupies its own place in a near-perfect pattern. The blossoms rise in concentric rows from the edge of the display toward its crown, creating an impression of abundance so extravagant that it seems possible only through multiplicity. If you linger to listen, you’ll hear many guests wondering if multitudes of plants have been assembled to produce this impressive form.
Then comes the revelation: every blossom belongs to a single chrysanthemum.
More here.
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