Chrysanthemum fest, Connecticut farm, national parks

HARTFORD, Conn.—Longwood Gardens' annual chrysanthemum festival runs Oct. 24-Nov. 22 and includes what the garden calls "the largest chrysanthemum in the Western world."

It's Longwood's "thousand-bloom chrysanthemum," which the garden says is the largest mum grown outside out of Asia, with more than 1,500 flowers on one plant.

The festival overall features more than 16,000 chrysanthemums groomed and trained into a variety of shapes and forms, from balls and spirals to cascades.

The garden is located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Details at www.longwoodgardens.org .

GRACE FARMS IN CONNECTICUT

Grace Farms, a new center for nature, arts and faith has opened on 80 acres of woodlands in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Its centerpiece is a long, narrow building known as the River because of its resemblance to water coursing through the one-time farmland. The serpentine building designed by the Japanese studio SANAA fits in with New Canaan's reputation as the site of noted buildings designed by architects such as Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer and Edward Durell Stone.

But Grace Farms, which required nearly $42 million to buy the land and $67 million for the building and related work, is more than an architectural attraction.

The project began as a way to preserve farmland and most of the property will remain undeveloped with meadows, woods, wetlands and ponds. Visitors can explore and enjoy these outdoor spaces. But Grace Farms is also dedicated to the arts and social justice. The site will be collaborating with visiting artists and non-profits that need program space, with a particular emphasis on fighting human trafficking.

Details at www.gracefarms.org .

FALL IN NATIONAL PARKS

National parks aren't just summer destinations. Many parks see significant visitation well into the fall, offering everything from wildlife to fall foliage to cooler temperatures.

The most popular national park destinations for fall include the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the Southeast U.S. The Blue Ridge Parkway got 1.8 million visitors last month, in September of this year, and 1.9 million visitors last October in 2014, while the Smokies saw 1.3 million visitors last October and a million last month.

But a number of parks in the Western United States typically receive hundreds of thousands of visitors in the fall as well.

Grand Canyon saw nearly 411,000 visitors last October and more than 480,000 this past September.

Other Western parks that registered big numbers were Yellowstone, with 680,000 visitors last month and 195,000 in October 2014; Yosemite, with 471,000 visitors in September and nearly 355,000 last October; and Zion with 394,000 in September and 304,000 last October.

All statistics are from the National Park Service online database at irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/National .