The list of things I didn't like is much shorter than what I liked. These are my thoughts, along with ideas I got from speaking to lots of people at the show all week.

TOO DARK. Many people said they could hardly see the exhibits in parts of the show. Was it supposed to be more romantic that way? Is somebody saving on electric bills? It was difficult to take pictures or to see what some of the exhibits were about.

I was unable to find any representative from some of the major exhibitors to ask about plants and design. Burke Brothers was consistently the exception. This makes for a strange experience. The flower show shouldn't be a museum, where you file through in silence wondering what you're looking at. I like to talk to curators and artists in museums, too, about what they were thinking when they painted or chose a particular work. At the flower show, I think it's imperative to have someone there, if only to greet visitors and especially so visitors can ask questions. The students from Williamson, Saul, Temple Ambler and other schools were terrific at this: Always there and eager to engage. 

I also wanted information about the performers on the stage behind the Rome gardens. Who were they? What arias were they singing? What's the story behind the folk songs? The dancers explained what they were doing and it made a big difference to me. Also the stage is two-sided. When performers went to one side, people on the other side were shut out. One night as I watched, people went from one side to the other to see it all.

And speaking of entertainment ... just as some of the most enjoyable exhibits were a little more modern and provocative, I would've liked some entertainment with those same qualities as part of the mix. This show was very romantic and traditional - people seemed to love it - but perhaps there should have been room for another kind of artist, dancer or performer.

And no treatise on an event at the convention center would be complete without some comment about the center itself. Sigh. We're stuck with it. The elevators are ridiculously tiny - people in wheel chairs waited 20 minutes the other day. And the rest rooms - the ladies' rooms, I mean - clearly were designed by men who have no clue. I was in a line one day that had 25 women in it, all waiting outside a rest room on the main floor that had five stalls, no soap or towels. Today I found a women's bathroom at the end of the 500 row in the marketplace - large and more importantly, empty, with plenty of soap and towels. Bravo. Wish I'd found it earlier in the week.

 This is the end of my official duties at the 2009 flower show. I'm actually going tomorrow with my husband - as a civilian. Ciao!