Thanks for a mini micro vacation!

Claire

Carl

For others who have been before, is the emphasis on floral design typical or just in keeping with this year's theme?

Technically, I can say I have been to this show before. However, since I was about 10 years old and much more interested in seeing the Liberty Bell from the bus as we passed by, I can't really comment on the experience. Too bad I didn't appreciate it at the time!

Thanks, Jane, for sharing these. Seeing those blooms is wonderful on this dreary day!

:)
Dee
(Have fun Deb!)

In the summer, that kind of overly brilliant display usually leaves me cold, but in March, all the color is welcome.

Interesting question, Babs, and one we have been asking ourselves
a lot these last few years. . .it turns out there are a lot of complicated
and overlapping reasons.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), which produces the show,
celebrated it's 175th anniversary with the show in 2004. . .but it also
marked the retirement of Ed Lindemann, the show's brilliant designer/
director for 25 incredible years. In an organization as large as PHS, a
staff change at that level can have all kinds of ripple effects; just five
years later, another tecotnic shift when the longtime president of PHS,
Jane Pepper, stepped down. So, with fresh blood and new ideas at the
highest levels, plus the show's dramatic new visibility in it's new home in central Philadelphia since 1996, AND the study this season which showed
that the Flower Show has a 61 million dollar economic impact on the city. . .
well, the landscape has changed. In order to keep the show growing and
earning dollars - it IS a fundraiser, after all, and the primary means by which
PHS supports all it's other remarkable programs like Philadelphia Green -
there is the understandable inclination to try to make the show more
accessible to the general (non-gardening) public, i.e. popularizing it.
Stunning floral displays - as in the Rose Bowl Parade - are a logical way
to go, albeit not to the taste of many gardeners. Don't get me wrong: even
as a diehard gardener, I have to admit that some of these displays are awesome. . .just look at some of Jane's pictures again!

Along with this trend toward "popularization", consider the economics:
being an exhibitor in a show of this magnitude is crushingly expensive,
which partially explains the recent attrition rate - two years ago, we lost
one of the biggest and best exhibitors in recent memory, J. Franklin
Styer Nurseries, who would win Best-In-Show medals year after year.
These were the kind of garden displays we would make a beeline for every
year: "What did Styer come up with this year?" Why the swan song? Styer
was bought out by Urban Oufitters in 2009, and has been transformed
into an upscale place called "Trend", a sort of Smith & Hawkin-on-steroids.
I'll pause momentarily while we all shudder. . .

This year, we lost another major exhibitor, J. Cugliotta Landscape/Nursery which was already in it's third generation at the show. . .still haven't heard
the scoop on this retirement, but I can't help wondering if it didn't have
something to do with the demise of their #1 competitor over the years,
J. Franklin Styer. We also lost Lindekin Water Gardens, where you could
always expect to find fascinating ponds, pools, streams, waterfalls and all
things water related. . .gone.

For many of these landscapers/nurseries, it must be hard to justify the
daunting expense (many thousands of dollars) of a major display, unless it
is generating compensatory new business. And the additional labor costs
of installing a garden display are far greater than for a floral design display -
and as much as I hate to say it (because I'm generally pro-union) the labor
unions at these big convention halls are making a killing . . .thank heaven for
the thousands of volunteers donating endless hours of time throughout the shows' entire run. It literally could not go on without them. . .

In all honesty, I think the days of those overwhelming, jaw-dropping garden displays we all salivated over, are basically done. . .I'm just grateful to have
had a ring-side seat all these years. I cut my teeth on The Boston Flower
Show (at the old Horticultural Hall across from Symphony Hall) when I was
just a little tyke; and then I discovered my first Philadelphia Flower Show
back in the 1960's, and I haven't missed too many since then. There are
glimmers of hope: Michael Petrie, the brilliant designer for all the Styer
exhibits since 2001, now has his own outfit, called Handmade Gardens,
and they had TWO displays this year, both of them exceptional. The huge
Horticourt, which displays all the competitive classes (it's a whole show
unto itself!) is very much alive and thriving. As always, PHS insists that
all the 130+ vendors in the Marketplace be "garden related" - no fear of
being hustled to purchase life insurance or the latest kitchen gadget! There are two major corporate sponsors now (this kind of thing has been evolving over the last decade): PNC Bank (which hired Handmade Gardens to create one the very best gardens in the show) and Subaru. . .while I'm not wild about a car sitting on the show floor, at least it is parked on cobbles next to a garden! Pet Peeve: this Subaru garden is always quite lovely, BUT THE PLANTS ARE NEVER LABELED, and of course the "car" people staffing the exhibit are clueless as to anything around them in the garden. . .actually, my friend and I had fun with them this year, teaching them the names of all "their" plants !

Heaven forfend! I seem to have rattled on here ad nauseum. . .my apologies,
but flower shows are one my passions. Anyone want to join me at the show
out in Cincinatti this year?

Carl

What is the Cincinatti show like? Do you travel there just for the show? I'll be in the Cleveland area then, but don't think I will have the time to go since I'm helping my mom with moving prep & it's about a 5 hour trip if I am remembering correctly after many years of not living in Ohio.