A Thousand Korean Chrysanthemums (That I Thought Were Daisies)

I was riding the bus down Fifth Avenue to work last week when I happened to glance up from my book as we were passing the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. I couldn't see much, but I saw glimpses of color and made a note to come back during my lunch break. I had been to the garden a few weeks back and marveled at the beautiful fall flowers in bloom, but this looked like something new.

I was completely blown away when I later entered the garden to find the most incredible array of Korean chrysanthemums I had ever seen. I'm not exaggerating when I say there were thousands and thousands of them (Lorelai Gilmore would have approved) in more colors than I even knew existed.

They were spilling over onto the walkways, pushing up through the cracks in the benches and tumbling over one another in every which way. It was impossible to be grumpy sitting on a bench surrounded by so many colorful flowers and I'm still having a hard time believing that something so beautiful can still exist this late into the season. The Conservatory Garden has stunned me breathless before with its tulips (first in 2012 and then again this year but I have to say that the Korean chrysanthemums might have surpassed them as the best New York garden display I've seen yet.

EDIT: Apparently these are actually Korean chrysanthemums, and not daisies (as I originally wrote), which was pointed out to me by someone on Instagram who is clearly much smarter than me. This makes much more sense, seasonally, and also negates my Gilmore Girls reference but I'm never mad when I get to reference GG, even if it's a mistake. It should also be noted that I know absolutely nothing about plants, which is probably obvious by now.