Annual bedding plants throughout the Garden are showy. Particularly noteworthy are the beds in the Kresko Victorian and Milles Sculpture Gardens.
Tropical water lilies are in full bloom in the Milles Sculpture and Swift Family Gardens. The exotic, fruity fragrance of the Victoria flowers perfume the evening garden.
Mums are beginning to bloom throughout the Garden.
Roses in both the Gladney and Lehmann Rose Gardens are in full, seasonal bloom.
Fruits of the Tea viburnums (Viburnum setigerum) in the Jenkins Daylily Garden are very showy.
Butterflies are numerous on the many flowering plants in the Christopher Biraben Butterfly Meadow and elsewhere throughout the grounds.
The bright pink flowers of the Mexican creeper vine (Antigonon leptopus) are particularly showy in the Shoenberg Temperate House. Look also for the deep purple flower spikes of the evergreen wisteria vine (Millettia reticulata) from Australia. Ladies tresses orchids (Spiranthes cernua var. odorata) are beginning to bloom in the bog.
Fragrant olive trees (Osmanthus fragrans) are filling the Linnean House with their rich scent. Look for the unusual orange-flowering fragrant olive (Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus). Showy red spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) are finishing their blooming in the windows, and powder-blue blossoms cascade from the Cape leadwort vine (Plumbago auriculata).
Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) along the stream in the English Woodland Garden are in full bloom.
The Coleus, Zinnia, and Tropical Garden displays in the Kemper Center Gardens are very showy.