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 |
The 2015 Flower Show theme “Celebrate the Movies,” was designed to allow visitors to experience the magic of movies and horticulture combined. Of course popcorn is a treat many movie-goers enjoy; nearly everyone seemed to be munching on popcorn as they wandered around the flower show floor. Once I overcame my disappointment in smelling popcorn instead of flowers, I found myself engaged by my surroundings, enjoying the displays, shopping opportunities and amazing specimen plants. The large horticultural displays offered some creative ideas, including a junk car converted into a chicken coop, a fence post made into bird houses, and garden borders made of logs and twigs.
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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 |
As I left the flower show I found 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!
Loved the pictures and Story. Spring is here on the west coast no water. But lovely flowersc
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!
Thanks my friend. Glad you are seeing spring on the west coast. Here we got another dose of snow!