philadelphia flower show
bre...@csrlink.net
good the Philadelphia Flower Show is? I've never
been to a flower show before, and I'm not sure what
to expect. I did check out the web page, but
it didn't satisfy my questions about it.
I have viewed flower shows on HGTV, and find
them very interesting.
Any information would be appreciated.
ta
went yesterday...........really beautiful, great ideas for your
backyards this year.........the most spectacular display this year
imho was the picture frame exhibit......oh .....my......God!!!!!!!
so beautiful........
expect to see fully set up landscape ideas , great trees, no, i mean
really great trees!!!!!!!
the only problem was it ended at 6.......but it's open till 9:30
during the week i think.....
dress warm........those streets were very cold last nite
Wendy B G
>good the Philadelphia Flower Show is?
It's out of this world!! As a New Yorker, I don't say this often about anything
in Philadelphia ;-).
Bring very good walking shoes. The floor is concrete, and hard on the feet.
I'll be going Thursday after work. It's open until 9:30 PM on weekdays. It's
unbearably crowded on weekends. Entry is $16 on weekdays, $18 on weekends.
There are several major exhibition areas, plus a commercial area, which sells
plants, garden tools, etc. This is just as much fun-- bring lots of money :)!
Eat at the Reading Terminal Market across the street before you go in.
Enjoy!
Wendy
Christine Gomberg
NOT the best display that I have seen compared to past (Phila)
shows. (so if you can't make it this year, don't be too upset)
I hadn't been in about 3 years (at least since it was held at the
Civic Center). I had great expectations of the Convention Center
environment. Especially since I was going on a weekday and not
a weekend! Crowds should be smaller (or so I had thought!) The
day started out bitter cold! Traffic into the city was moving.
Parking lots easy to find, room available. The trip was starting
out good! I remembered to bring my handled shopping bags, my
camera, extra film and several bottles of water (for me) tucked
into my pockets. (Good tips for anyone visiting the show). The
ticket lines were long but moved quickly.
I went directly to purchase my Flower Show program. I was
surprised (and disappointed) to see it was only a printed copy of
the Flower show advertisement from Sundays newspaper. It used to
be much nicer (and fuller) when I last went to the show. Did
this change recently? My friends and I then "herded" with the
rest of the cattle into the main room. A beautiful display of
flowers upon first entering but in my opinion it lacked the "big
bang" that one used to experience when going down the escalators
in the Civic Center. It was sooo DARK! Mind you I am in my
early 30s. My eyesight should not be failing yet!
We moved toward the center of the exhibits since the closest ones
were swamped. At least 3 deep and not moving. This was at 10:20
in the morning. I worried that as noon approached it would
become worse. Unfortunately, crowd wise it did become worse. I
felt terrible for those on crutches/canes and
wheelchairs/strollers. It was not easy to get around. At times
almost impossible. Now for my pet peeve! The line busters.
[standing on soap box] If you go to a show, be prepared to stand
in a line. If you do not want to stand in a line, be so kind as
to view the display beyond the line. Do not expect the line to
part like the red sea just so that you "the privileged" get the
perfect shot with your camera. [step off the soap box].
Actually, I should have been impressed. Many of the people must
have been direct descendants of aristocracy - at least they
behaved as such. I digress....
We made it through 3/4 of the exhibits. The Monet/picture frame
exhibit was my favorite. This exhibit was meant to be viewed (at
least in my opinion) a bit further back than where the line was
placed. Being able to view the entire frame, gave the impression
of a Monet painting. The background was unlit and the light was
on some thin fabric (is it called scrim?) used alot in theater.
Then the lighting would increase in stages and the display would
"come to life". I also enjoyed seeing the National Trust
properties exhibits. Have they been exhibiting at the show in
recent years too? Our feet were killing us so we opted to take
a break and eat at the food court. Much better selection than at
the Civic Center. Food was only ok. Next time I would get my
hand stamped and eat across the street at the Reading Market.
We went back in and saw the remaining exhibits. We were
surprised to see several displays with dead or dying plants.
Crowds only slightly better. I threatened to start coughing like
I had TB so that people would back off. Super glad I wasn't
pregnant! Next we headed for the vendor booths. First stop, the
fresh cut flowers. This year the big seller was roses. Most
booths had them for $5/dz. I bought several dozen bunches of a
beautiful orange colored rose (sorry, can't tell you which kind
as I am not a rose grower). I saw no tulips. I had hoped to get
some sunflowers but they all looked terrible (at different booths
no less). Plus other flowers/vines which I could not resist. One
friend bought super long pussy willow branches. This turned out
to be a great weapon when dealing with the aristocratic crowds.
There were tons of displays. I picked up some wonderful
decorative garden thingies for my son to enjoy. They were
copper/verdigris colored animals on stakes. The display (from
Asheville NC) was a big hit - long line. There were beautiful
floral watercolors from Maine. Great wire frames for vines/moss
topiaries (vendor from CT?) that I did not buy but am considering
ordering from still. Beautiful but super overpriced structures
(arbors, fences, gazebos).
No hate mail please. This email was just an explanation of my
experience. I have ALWAYS and will still recommend this show to
my friends. Just thought some of you might appreciate reading
about it.
Next year I am going at night!
Chris
di...@rmy.emory.edu
>
> Just went yesterday (Monday). Beautiful displays as always. But
> NOT the best display that I have seen compared to past (Phila)
> shows. (so if you can't make it this year, don't be too upset)
>
You are relatively lucky. We have had a flower show in the Atlanta Area
for several years now. I went two years ago, thought it was terrible and
missed last year. This year I got a free ticket for my volunteer efforts
so I went. It took me about an hour to see the whole thing. Mostly gaudy
landscape demos for people who are hoping to increase their business. No
garden clubs that I could see.
The vendors included many, many dealers in glitzy junk. Not very many
plant dealers which I have always enjoyed.
I guess I've been spoiled by the Boston Show, and I have never seen the
Philly show.
Anyway, people who had to pay paid $14.00 to get into the show and
that's after paying $4.00 to park. Kinda stiff for what you get. Oh, I
know it benefits the Botanical Garden here, but their priorities seem a
little skewed too. They want to be all things to all people and have
places to hold functions and weddings and you name it. What happened to
botany and Horticulture.
I guess if gas stations sell milk and eggs, Botanical gardens should be
able to hold private functions.
Dick Wagner
Atlanta
m&v
I'll tell ya, I don't know how they can dare call something a Home and
Garden Show, when there was about 5% garden. 95% gadgets, salesmen
for assorted crap, windows, doors, and hot tubs.
V
Ciminim
weeks ago. Hot Tubs galore and lots of windows and cabinets.........
J Wintermute
<christin...@bms.com> wrote:
[big snip]
>Just went yesterday (Monday).
Me, too--same day.
>We were surprised to see several displays with dead or dying plants.
Yes, amazing so early in the show! And the "grass," which was squares
of sod, was in terrible shape. You could see the seams of the
squares, the grass blades were about 3 inches long and flopped over,
complete with crispy-looking areas here and there. The grass really
amazed me.
--Janet
J Wintermute
>Can anyone give me any information about how
>good the Philadelphia Flower Show is?
I was somewhat disappointed. The florists' tabletop exhibits showed
no special creativity, the bonsai exhibit had specimens as young as 7,
and in general plantings of forced blooms were set up without regard
to which species would ever be flowering naturally at the same time.
I was also let down by the mini replicas of the historic gardens at
four mansions run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (of
which I am a member, BTW). The architectural elements were like stage
sets, i.e., not remotely real looking, and I have my doubts about the
accuracy of the species planted there....
A few governmental agencies had booths, including my employer (USDA,
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). The APHIS display
features an aquarium with live gypsy moths chomping away, another with
live brown tree snails, and a third pest-related feature showing
America's newest hardwood threat, the Asian longhorned beetle
(Anoplophora glabripennis) encased in acrylic.
It's good to remember that I am the absolute hardest viewer to
satisfy: I make pubs, P.R. tools, and exhibits for a living; I'm a
serious gardener; and I have strong opinions about color in the
garden. It's very likely that no garden show could send me away
entirely satisfied.
If you need a midwinter jolt of greenery and blooms, though, the
Philadelphia Flower Show is the place to be this week (ends this
coming Sunday). Do wear sneakers: the other poster who mentioned the
exposed concrete floors did everybody a big favor.
The sponsoring organization, the ancient (1807?) Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, is doing wonderful things to promote the
conversion of vacant city lots to community garden plots. They make a
million dollars a year off the show, and I'm sure a BIG percentage of
that goes to their charitable endeavors.
--Janet
bre...@csrlink.net
Charles Diem <crd...@home.com> wrote:
><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
><html>
>Went on Monday and was generally impressed --especially the natural woodlands
>exhibits. The Styer exhibit was really creative with a giant picture
>frame framing a garden scene that changed via lighting. Pretty cool.
>I put some pics up on our website if you want to get a peek before you
>go trudging down there. I took about 75 pics, and TRIED to pick some
>of the better ones for viewing...about 35 on the website.
><p>Visit us,
><br>Chuck & Peg
><br>Smallwood Garden
><br><a href="http://members.tripod.com/~smallwoodgarden/">http://members.tripod.com/~smallwoodgarden/</a>
><p>bre...@csrlink.net wrote:
><blockquote TYPE=CITE>Can anyone give me any information about how
><br>good the Philadelphia Flower Show is? I've never
><br>been to a flower show before, and I'm not sure what
><br>to expect. I did check out the web page, but
><br>it didn't satisfy my questions about it.
><p>I have viewed flower shows on HGTV, and find
><br>them very interesting.
><p>Any information would be appreciated.</blockquote>
></html>
Wendy B G
Although it was very nice, it was much less spectacular than last year's show.
If you have been in the past, there isn't anything truly creative, except for
the "framed" garden....and that is mostly due to excellent lighting effects.
The plants were disappointingly dry and many flowers actually looked droopy.
Were they rationing water ;-)?
Still, for a "first show" visitor, it would be lovely. I took a friend, and she
was impressed.
I bought cannas, calla lilies, astilbes, troillus from one of the booths.
Wendy
L. Hug
>
> Next year I am going at night!
Chris,
My husband and I go every year...we've found that the absolutely best
time to go is on Tues. at 4:00 p.m. This time slot ensures that (a) the
flowers and plants are still fresh, and (b) it puts you between the
daytimers and the nighttimers. We typically stay for about 2 1/2 hours,
and then go out to dinner before heading home, thus avoiding rush-hour
traffic.
BTW, wouldn't all our gardens be as lovely as theirs if we too could get
our tulips to bloom the same times as our delphineums? :-)
Liz