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Friday, February 27, 2009

Flower show set-up

I've just spent four hours gawking at the Flower Show as it's coming together. The convention center is literally abuzz with machinery. It smells like fresh soil - love it, though some convention center workers are wearing masks to keep the dust out. There's water on the floor and containers and flats everywhere ... buckets of tulips, piles of pussy willows, rock music blasting, heavy equipment zooming around. It's busy, as always on the day before the preview, but the mood is somewhat subdued this year compared to other years. Everyone is waiting to see if the crowds show up. The horticultural society, which manages the show, says advance ticket sales are running ahead of the last two years but then, oh no, the weather forecast for Sunday looks dicey. That old wintry mix is on the way with temperatures in the 30's. I have to go to the show - tough job...someone's gotta do it - but even if I didn't, I'd go. This year, maybe it's me, but there seems to be a bit more creative stuff going on (more on this later), along with the traditions for which this show is famous. This photo is of the central feature, Roman gardens, done by J. Cugliotta Landscape/Nursery. It's a formal garden with many of the things Italian gardens in the Renaissance had -- elegant water features, statuary, trees, columns. This photo shows the huge - and I mean huge - urns in front that workers on ladders were filling as I left. You can't see the base of the urn. I couldn't get it all in the picture. Ciao!
Posted by virginia smith @ 4:41 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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