At the New York Botanical Garden show, an exhibition features kengai, or cascade, chrysanthemums that create waterfall-like plunges of small blooms. Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum continues through Nov. 18. (Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images)
The ogiku is one of three traditional styles of the Japanese chrysanthemum. Its a single-stem plant with a dramatic blossom that can grow up to 6 feet tall. (Seth Wenig / AP)
Steps is a spoon-form mum with purplish petals and a yellow-green center, at Descanso Gardens. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
This dusty pink spider mum, Giant Bouquet, has tendril-like petals. (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)
Kelvin Mandarin, a pompon form in stunning orange, at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden show. (Earl Burns Miller / Japanese Garden, CSULB)
Blooms of an ozukuri seem to float on a supporting scaffold at the New York show. The one chrysanthemum plant with more than 200 flowers is grown from a single cutting. (Seth Wenig / AP)
A bush-like ozukuri with white flowers rises from a planter at the Kiku show in New York. The exhibition is a collaboration with Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden in Tokyo. (Seth Wenig / AP)
