Gage Park Floral Mum Show opens this weekend with C&W theme

The one thing that comes through whenever a reporter interviews a member of city of Hamilton’s horticulture staff is how much they love their jobs, you can tell by the excitement in their voices. Being surrounded by beauty all day certainly helps. And it all comes to a head this weekend with the opening of the 2026 Mum show at the Gage Park greenhouse. Nobody is more excited than Rachel Boyce who is the Horticulture Program Supervisor and in charge of the annual Mum show (started in 1920), the spring bulb show and all the traffic island displays that are seen across the city. She is also in charge of the giant topiary displays that are seen in the City Hall forecourt.

Anybody that has visited the Mum show in the past will marvel at the artistry and creativity that goes into the displays. Where else can one see thousands of chrysanthemums shaped into giant Mr. Potatohead figure, a gingerbread house, a giant spider and so many other familiar figures. And there is no handbook on how to create these figures. “Creative people are attracted to our field,” says Rachel, “and that’s where all the ideas for our displays come from.” As far as show themes go, horticulture staff start planning next year’s show when this year’s is over. This year’s show will have a country and western theme, for instance, and in terms of originality, as Rachel says, “nobody tells you how to make a 12-foot cowboy hat out of mums, or recreate the inside of a barn in a greenhouse or create a western storefront façade or a desert canyon.”

If a film crew were to be on hand in the days leading up to the show opening they would end up with something resembling one of those backstage Broadway musicals. 25 to 30 creative people scrambling to get everything in place in the 10 days that the greenhouse is closed to allow for set-up. “We’re a passionate bunch,” says Rachel, “and in those 10 days there are inevitable tensions. “Once the show starts, we can relax—we’ve done our work and its there for the public to enjoy.”

The floral animals and all the other displays involve tens of thousands of mums-more than 200 varieties in all. Everything used in the show is gown in city greenhouses.

For those who do not live in the Gage Park area the Mum Show is a great opportunity extend their visit by exploring the rest of the park which is a gem. For 30 years before the RBG Arboretum was established, Gage Park was the city’s arboretum and boasts over 100 varieties of trees and shrubs, including a stand of almost 200-year-old copper beech trees. There are formal gardens at the north end of the park (one of the Dunnington-Grubb early commissions), a rose garden and of course, the iconic beaux-arts fountain that showcased the work of architect John Lyle (Union Station, Royal Alex Theatre, McQuesten High Level Bridge), as well as sculptors Francis Loring and Florence Wyle (QEW Lion statue. Henley Bridge).

October 17 to 25, 2026

​​9 am to 7 pm

Gage Park Greenhouse

Ticket information https://www.hamilton.ca/things-do/festivals-events/fall-floral-mum-show

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