David aka Bahia

Greetings from Griswak Copper!!!

Copper kelp plants and copper coral...
accents to an amazing "underwater" succulent garden
presented by ORGANIC MECHANICS in this year's
San Francisco Flower and Garden Show
at the Cow Palace, March 21– 27th.

I may still make the trek on Sunday. Has anyone spotted anything else that's particularly worth going to see?

My tastes run very traditional, I like the Provence look, english gardens, cottage style. So naturally I'm not going to love some of the contemporary designs but they were quite nice this year too. There was something for everyone...unlike prior years where it felt like there was too much of a comnon theme. I remember a couple years ago it was all about the Spanish style and last year overdid the modern. Last year I wondered what happened to the plants, the objects took center stage while the plants took a back seat. It was more well-rounded this year. But can we please have one garden show without a designer parking an old car in the middle of his garden? That's been done so many times. This year it was Greenlee's turn. The red 50's car had no relation to his display other than to add a splash of color to his usual mix of prairie grasses.

Here's what is drastically different about this year's show. They omitted an entire building, the one you used to walk down the ramp to get to. The poor guy selling the kettle corn was moved to the entrance, a terrible location that even he admitted was bad for his business. The food court was squished to another outside area and scattered about the cow palace. The specialty rooms are all gone. The bonsai room is gone, the floral arrangements are gone, the orchid room is gone. They took a much smaller representation of these groups and moved them into the market place where they were packed in with everything else. I saw one table with 3 bonsai plants. If there were more than that I didn't notice. I guess visitor evaluation forms gave a thumbs down to these specialty rooms and they decided this year to abandon them. While they were never my favorite places to see I still liked walking through them. The show has become pretty much just a place to shop and to look at the display gardens.

I bought even more stuff than last year...this show attracts the best vendors. It's hard to walk away at the end of the day without an armload of goodies!

I can post a couple photos if anyone wants to see a sample of the display gardens.

wanda

This display garden was stunning, the doors glistened like gold they were so beautiful (but of course my old camera doesn't capture it)

Susi added a link to an actual outdoor garden down in Encinitas that is a living garden, and reflects the real world concerns of pulling off these same effects in a garden built to last for more than 5 days. Thanks, Susi for posting this, I haven't had the chance to see this yet, but already know Bill Teague's own garden and the reputation of Solano Succulents.

I also wonder that anyone would think that those chairs are actually usable! Another piece of stage design that isn't actually practical or even usable...

From the comments on this thread, it sounds like the show this year managed to cover most of the bases, and had something for everybody to enjoy. As one of the garden designers myself, I wish I had had more of an opportunity to actually talk design with the public, as often happens with gardens on display for garden tours. The nature of the event doesn't really encourage discussion, but does provide an opportunity for people to get together in celebration of plants, gardens and design.

I don't know if the average visitor realizes that none of the display garden designs would actually be practical in the real world, but instead are designed for a temporary display and to create the illusion of a mature garden. And like Cinderella at midnight, they will all start to be dismantled at the close of the show this evening, with only the recorded image left as testimony of their brief existence, until new gardens unfold next spring.

Amanda 'romando'

Bahia...I would think anyone who gardens will realize that these displays are like fashion shows, the designer puts together a wild outfit to attract attention but doesn't expect customers to actually buy the ensemble. The intent is to generate interest in his/work work and not to take the clothes they see on the runway literally. But I wonder how many people actually think you can pack baby plants together and expect them to grow to maturity without crowding each other out? Like puppies, you wish they stayed that small!

In the marketplace there is a stand that sells Antique Seed Packets in frames. Dottie has them in her slide show.
I remember buying these 20 years ago at a local art fair and I've seen them at fairs and shows ever since. Has someone stopped to question when these people are going to run out of the seed packets? After decades one would expect this rare item to have sold out by now. Each time I run across their booth at a fair I ask myself is this on the up and up?

Does anyone know who the awards were given out to? I looked on the website and they haven't posted them yet. Who won people's choice? Who won best garden as voted by members of the landscape design community?