Garden Design

We're so inspired by Michelle Obama's beautiful jars of pickled vegetables and bags of chamomile tea, all made from plants grown in her White House garden!

Many botanical gardens and even city parks show off plantings of mums in the fall, so be sure to check on locations close to home. Some places go above and beyond to create eye-popping displays, such as the chrysanthemum festivals at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (Nov 1-21), Bellingrath Gardens and Home in Theodore, Alabama (Nov 12-25), and the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon (Oct 9-17). The National Chrysanthemum Society also hosts an annual show (this year at Sherman Library and Gardens, Corona del Mar, California, Oct 30-31), and local chapters put on smaller shows across the country; visit mums.org to learn more. But if your love of mums can lure you across the Atlantic, then the Chrysanthema Lahr festival in Lahr, Germany, is a can’t-miss event, held from Oct 16-Nov 7 this year.

Jenny Andrews sneaks a peek at the new plants featured at the Ohio Florists Association show

A vibrant groundcover for the shade garden, Lamium maculatum ‘Anne Greenaway’ forms a 6- to 8-inch-tall mass of scallop-edged variegated leaves that glitter with chartreuse, silver and mint green. Clusters of small lilac-mauve flowers add to the display in late spring, but the foliage can last all year in mild-winter regions. Perennial.