The
winter of 2015 was particularly dreary and cold in the Northeast. On many occasions I found myself looking out
the window trying to wish away the snow and gray skies. That’s why I was thrilled about the
opportunity to have a girls’ day out to attend the flower show. Nothing gets me more excited about spring
than walking into the Philadelphia Flower Show and being overwhelmed, almost
intoxicated, by the smell of spring blooms.
The problem was that this year as I entered the convention center, I was
overwhelmed by the smell of popcorn!
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| The Flower Show Entrance |
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| Logs created a retaining wall |
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| An artistic fence of logs and twigs |
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| Fence post bird house |
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| A dose of spring |
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| One man’s junk, a chicken’s treasure |
In addition to the large displays, many florists showcased their talents with elegant and whimsical vignettes commemorating magical Disney movies like Cinderella and Ratatouille. Who would have thought of using black plastic tubing as a water feature? But, it worked!
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| An amazing tower of blooms |
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| Cinderella’s table |
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| Ratatouille’s sewers of Paris |
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| Ratatouille’s fine restaurant in Paris |
One
of the flower show features I enjoyed most was seeing the fine art made
exclusively out of plant material. From
a distance, my friends and I were convinced the framed masterpieces were
painted, but upon close observation, it was clear they weren’t. The miniature gardens were special too. We pressed our faces against the glass of
each artistic arrangement in an effort to visually capture every inch of these
diminutive displays that used plant material to create the illusion of shrubs
and trees.
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| Fine art made of plant material |
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| A miniature garden display |
myself feeling lucky. In general, I think those of us who live in the
Philadelphia are very lucky.
Philadelphia is the home to America’s first horticultural society, The
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, founded in 1827, and the world’s oldest and
largest indoor flower show, which celebrated its 187th year this year. I
vow to attend the flower show again next year.
I’m just hoping in 2016, I’ll smell flowers again instead of popcorn!
Carol, I loved this post and particularly like the imagination shown by all the people who created displays using every day materials to fashion a different look and feel. A few that particularly stood out for me: Dose of Spring with the variety of yellow, white and purple colors helped me see Spring; the idea of Fine Art constructed of plant material, I thought was a great idea and last, the Tower of Blooms brought my eyes up to a beautiful array of white flowers. Thanks for taking great pictures and writing about your experience. The first day of spring is just around the corner and seeing these pictures, I can hardly wait. Good work girl!
Thanks John. The level of creativity was amazing. Now, if we could just get out in our own gardens to express some creativity….go away snow!
Loved the pictures and Story. Spring is here on the west coast no water. But lovely flowersc
Thanks my friend. Glad you are seeing spring on the west coast. Here we got another dose of snow!