Philly Flower Show Recap

Man oh man!! What can I say about the Philly Flower Show??! Not only that, but is there enough room here for me to put all the descriptive wording needed?! I think not, but I’ll try to give y’all a little recap of the one day visit.

I made the drive from my house east to Philly in about 6 hours, it woulda took me less time but it was a nice day and I kind of poked along, stoppin here and there for photo ops.
Felder had already made reservations for one night at a local motel so I drove there first while he was flyin in from Atlanta. I picked him up at the airport Sunday evenin and we headed to the room. It was late, about 1:30 AM, when we finally crashed for a short sleep – we were up at 6:15 Monday mornin.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center was full of display gardens in all sizes. It was like being amid every garden in the whole world, like you was in garden Heaven on Earth! Two of my favorite displays were a succulent “underwater” garden and a wonderfully whimsical display with an actual carnival ride on loan to the creator.

The succulent display had cacti of every variety and in all shapes and sizes. Two varieties I saw were about 5 feet tall and the creator of the display told me they sold for a thousand bucks apiece! The other display had kiddy rides used as containers for plants, a real “Tunnel of Love” with a huge swan used as a container.

Unfortunately Felder had to be back at the airport Monday afternoon by 4:00 PM so we didn’t have time to take in all of the show. I doubt if one could see everything in just one day. The time we spent at the Philadelphia Flower Show was priceless, the ideas I got and the influential folks Felder introduced me to will be very beneficial.

I’ll be posting a few of the better photos I snapped while there soon.

TC…

I almost had the pleasure of meeting TC [came within 6" of him] but Felder whisked him away! I've been lucky to be able to bop down to the show as the representative of a sponsor. Here's a picture I took today [day 5], from the Guernsey Clematis Exhibit. Raymond Evison was there [answered a bunch of our questions] - he's worked on this exhibit for the past 2 years. He's from England, the plants were grown in California, 4 new varieties were introduced, the plants will end up for sale at Waterloo garden center.
Enjoyed a lecture by Doug Green on designing the perennial garden to bloom all season; and another one, '437 Gardening Questions' with Mike McGrath.

Purty! Nice pic, handhelpers.

Maybe next time TC is at the flower show he'll have his very own booth and ya'll can meet!

(Was/Is Mike McGrath still there under the Organic Gardening name or is he now solo-ing it?)

Mike was there as a radio show host "you bet your garden" = every saturday morning on public radio after 'the car guys'. He hasn't been with Rodale [organic gardening for a while] He's a really cool guy! He's also editor of the PPandPlants magazine - MidAtlantic region. PPandP had a beautiful exhibit designed by Jerry Fritz

Yeh, I remember when he "left" Rodale, but had noticed he still does some write-ups for them. (Not familiar with PP and P.)

Guess I'll hafta listen to public radio more often on Sats. (Love the Car Guys!)

PPP = People Places and Plants. Started as a New England regional magazine about 7-8 years ago and expanded last year to include a Mid-Atlantic edition [metro NY to VA] Maybe someday they'll expand to include Southern, Midwest, etc editions. I like it - TC did you pick up a copy? Don't know if you've seen the State-State [7 states] magazines but I like PPP better.
If you love the car guys - just keep listening in - mike's show is right after theirs

Felder mentioned McGrath's PBS talk show. Said he don't do the gardening one on Mississippi's Public Radio anymore. Felder took it over I reckon and does it on Tuesday mornin's at 9:00 AM EST.

I picked up a copy HHs, nice mag! The article on the star magnolia is good. That variety is very common around here. But it does have the tendency to draw frost. The article in PPP explains why.

Here's a few photos I snapped at the Show...

Unfortunately I didn't write down the names of the displays.

I love this white astilbe! The rhoddys are beautiful too. I think that may be an azalea in the lower right.

Do y'all reckon I oughta put out a display like this? By crackie, I'm a-goin to! After all, Kentucky was once famous for its moonshine stills!

TC...

I was told there was a coral reef made of orchids...is that true?
Pictures?

there's a real coral reef - i'm going back down there in a few so i'll try and get a picture of it - TCs first picture was the first of the waldor orchid exhibits. i'll try and figure out who did the azaleas. here's a picture from meadowbrook

here's a picture from cugliotta

here's a picture from flaggs - i really like the treehouse in the back!

and last one for now - a display from Friends Hospital

Thanks for posting some good photos hhs! Several of mine didn't turn out. You took some nice shots.

Some of the coral reef were made out of paper mache'. I didn't see any orchid reefs.

This is a photo of the underwater display garden. Most of the plants are succulents.

TC...

Love the pictures!!!!!!

Thanks crestedchik. The photos don't really do the Show justice, but they are nice to look at after you've been and they bring back some good memories.

TC...

another view of the coral

orange orchids

Happy 175th Birthday!

don't know the name of the orchids - but spidery looking

another pretty orchid

last pretty orchid for today!

Great shots hhs! I'm so disgusted that a lot of my photos didn't come out! I took one of the "cake" that I was really hopin to be a good one, it disappeared! Just about all the shots of the orchids I took also left! I can't figure out what happened to them.

Thanks for posting these, post some more if you want to!
Did you happen to get a photo of "The Love Tunnel" in Michael Petrie's display garden?

There was also a display garden that had a beautiful metal archway with blown glass lighting in the shape of trumpets. Did you happen to snap a photo of that?

TC...

hi tc - i'll email you whatever pics you'd like so they don't have dg on them. here's a metal archway and i'll follow it with the 'angel'! i'll look for mike's exhibit.....if i don't have it i know there's one on styer's website and probably even the flower show

'tawny gold' should i put this in the database since i caught the name?

They are gorgeous and thanks so much for them!

hhs, that's not the arch I was referring to. That's a nice one though.

You'll have to ask another about the database matter.

TC...

TC and Handhelpers, great pictures, thanks for posting them. I really wanted to go to Seattle for the NW flower and garden show, but they have it in early Feb. and that is probably the worst time to be driving over the passes to get there so i have only gone 2 or 3 times. Thanks again. Donna

Donna, this was my first visit to a major flower show. You and hhs have been to many more than I. They are a sight to behold and these photos can attest to that fact!

I know how the weather conditions can be in your part of the country and driving during snow storms and such can be treacherous.

Thanks for the nice comments, I'm so glad hhs got some good shots of the PFS!

TC...

actually - philly was my very first, one and only....but will definitely be the beginning of many more!

Well say no more hhs!

"will definitely be the beginning of many more!"

For me too!!

TC...

Loved all the pictures! Thanks to everyone for sharing them! :~)

I've been at the Philadelphia Flower Show many times, but couldn't go this year....maybe next time. The show is ALWAYS packed with people. I've even tried going at odd hours of the day, in the hopes of a smaller crowd. I've even viewed displays in the opposite direction from the general flow of traffic. You just have to try different ways and see what works best for you. You want to be able to view all the exhibits and read the information on the signs, but it can be difficult when you are peeking between heads and standing on your tippy toes!

Also, if you go on the very last day of the show, a few hours before closing time, the vendors will sell a lot of their plants, flowers, garden ornaments, etc., because they don't want to drag them back out to their vans. You can really get find some great deals, if you are willing to wait until the closing of the show. Give it a try....you might just come home with some new found "treasures"! :~)

Man, next year I would LOVE to try and make it to that. The Central Ohio show in Columbus is great, but I don't know that it's anything as extensive as the Philly show. Is the Philly show all gardening, or are there also home improvement product booths for things like siding, fencing, furnaces, patio enclosures, etc.? Columbus' show is a combo deal, and it seems more devoted to the vendors than the gardens.

GW, I only went to the Columbus show once about 8 years ago and I was very disappointed in the garden part of it (except for Mike McGrath, former editor of OG, who was speaking that year).

Have you ever been to the Cincinnati show? I have never been there but I think it is the only North American flower show that is endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. The website makes it sound wonderful:

www.cincyflowershow.com

GW - the Philadelphia Flower Show deals with ONLY gardening. It is spectacular....from the very creative and unique show cases, to the flower & orchid arrangements, to the dried flowers artistically displayed under glass. It is the creme de la creme of garden shows!!! NO home improvements booths are allowed at this one!!!

i'm glad you mentioned that, shirley1 - the dried flowers depicting flowers and underwater scenes and pennsylvania quilts was incredible! i'm sorry you didn't get to the show this year. it was ed's [don't remember his last name] last year as show director so they all went all out for his last hoorah. most of my pictures were taken last thurs. we didn't get to the show until about 4:30 and we could walk up to everything. no crowds. wish i could've gone tonite to see the take-down and get some bargains!

There is SO much to see and and so many great garden related workshops, teas, and other special offerings during the week of the Philadelphia Flower Show, that you simply can't do everything. It takes several days to see it thoroughly or just one afternoon to catch glimpses & get an overview of this spectacular and amazing transformation of the Philadelphia Convention Center! It will leave you with the desire to see it yearly and to see if they can make it even MORE spectacular!

Handhelpers - I had heard from my sister-n-law that the late afternoon and early evening was an excellent time to see the show. I'll have to keep that in mind for next year's....