Flower Show inspirations

It could be the motto of the Philadelphia Flower Show: Please

do

try this at home.

For avid gardeners, there are few things that rival the show's 10 acres for sheer inspiration. At this year's New Orleans-theme exhibition, those stirrings can come from bright bromeliads, overflowing window boxes, an impossibly picturesque bayou landscape, and much more.

Call it one big brainstorming session, really, for those who can't wait to get dirt under their fingernails.

"It's a great ideas place, the best in the world," Ali Reilly of Wilmington said yesterday. She's been coming to the show for more years than she can remember: "They do things you would never think of."

Charged up by the astounding horticultural feats of the Flower Show exhibits, attendees descend on its 150 vendors with gusto.

Exotic bulbs, high-end pruners, rare plants, rustic garden furniture, unusual seeds, nitrile gloves: all for sale, and all holding out the promise of a front yard to rival the exhibits of the show's blue-ribbon winners.

"I always find neat new things. There's some bulbs I liked out there, a ginger plant or two," said Horsham resident Mary Jane Crossan. "It's like fashion, a different look every year."

The vendors are smart about it, she said, and they feature plants that are used heavily in the big exhibits.

"They have a lot of unusual stuff that you can't find in normal stores," Crossan said.

Some of the most bizarre-looking bulbs are in Paula Amand's bins. She runs a garden wholesale company in Buffalo that sells directly to the public once a year: at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

"We used to go to other flower shows, but they were smaller and they weren't really worth the trouble," said Amand, who's been doing business at the Philadelphia show for 51 years.

People, she said, always want what they've seen in the big exhibits.

Which helps explain the bright colors and bold looks - in keeping with the New Orleans theme - that vendors seemed to be embracing.

"I find the whole thing inspiring, it makes you want to get out there and dig," said Terri Sapienza of Northeast Philadelphia.

Sapienza described herself as a "novice," but she has ambitions. She had just joined the African Violet Society, which has an impressive display at the show. Her friend Crossan is the society's local president.

"It's the beginning of March, winter is almost over, and you walk in here and get that smell of spring," Crossan said. "It really raises your spirits, I think."

Nancy Valletta of Upstate New York felt the same way. It was snowing when she left Albany for Philadelphia to see the show for the first time.

"I love it, I've never seen anything like it," Valletta said, her shopping bag full of bare-root perennials. "I can't wait to get dirty, can't wait for that snow to be gone."

The Flower Show, now in its 179th year, runs through Sunday. Proceeds benefit the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and its extensive urban greening program.

The 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show is open to the public today through next Sunday at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets.

Hours: Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Best viewing hours are after 4.) The box office closes one hour before the show ends.

Tickets: Box-office prices for adults are $28 today, $26 Saturday and next Sunday, $24 weekdays, and $13 for children ages 2 to 16. The show offers a family fun pack: $65 for two adults and two children younger than 16. Advance tickets are $22 for adults, $21.50 for groups of 25 or more, and $13 for children ages 2 to 16. Visitors who get a hand stamped can leave and reenter the same day without paying a readmission fee.

Getting there by public transit: SEPTA has routes on Regional Rail trains, buses, subways and trolleys to the Market East station near the Convention Center. SEPTA offers a "Flower Show Special Bouquet Pass," which includes unlimited transportation on its lines plus an adult Flower Show ticket. For SEPTA information, call 215-580-7800 or go to www.septa.org.

Amtrak riders save 20 percent off the best available regular fare for coach travel to Philadelphia through March 11. Call 1-800-USA-RAIL or book online at www.amtrak.com and refer to fare code V759 when making reservations.

EndText

For a slideshow of Flower Show photographs, visit http://go.philly.com/flowershowEndText