The best non-flower stuff at the Flower Show

The Disney movies highlighted in the exhibits may never have made it onto our playlist, but we liked a lot about the 2015 Flower Show, anyway.

As interviews with others confirmed, knowing these films wasn't a prerequisite for enjoying the creativity and beauty of the show. But it might have moved the experience beyond horticulture.

That said, if you can't find enough horticulture here - with 21 major landscape and floral exhibitors, including four new international participants, along with hundreds of artistic arrangements, educational and plant society displays, individual plant competitions, and gardening, floral and culinary demonstrations - perhaps you need a multivitamin.

Or new glasses.

Based on random interviews and considerable observation, here are some nonhorticultural thoughts and suggestions from the 2015 "Celebrate the Movies" show.

Lani Schweiger of Wilmington was one of about 75 people in line one morning for the wildly imagined Nightmare Before Christmas exhibit by Bill Schaffer and Kristine Kratt of Schaffer Designs. We're talking floral renderings of psychedelic pumpkins and oversize eyeballs, and painted flowers glowing under black lights.

Schweiger is a big fan; she came dressed in a Nightmare sweater. Even her 3-year-old daughter, Veruca Star, knew the characters: Jack Skellington, the "Pumpkin King"; his ghost dog, Zero; and Sally, a rag doll woman created by a mad scientist.

Lani said she hadn't been to the Flower Show in more than five years, but Disney was a draw. "She likes princesses, and this kind of show entertains her," Lani said, pointing to her daughter, but clearly the toddler wasn't the only one being entertained.

As Walt Disney was reported to have said: "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway."

Which may help explain why the Disney theme resonated with so many grown-ups, too. (By the way, Veruca Star likes to garden with her grandmother. Maybe she'll be back in a non-Disney year.)

Gene London's Hollywood Collection of movie costumes was a treat. So was he. Now 83, London was the host of Cartoon Corners (General Store), a beloved Philadelphia children's TV show from 1959 to 1977, and every day in costume-filled Room 203 at the show, he's been greeting fans, many of them boomers.

"My family," he calls them.

You see the affection on their faces, too, and if you stay very quiet, maybe you'll hear London's familiar refrain from somewhere deep in the room's collective memory:

Let's pretend that it's story time

And I'll tell a tale to you.

I'll tell you a story of make believe

And all your dreams will come true.

We loved KLIP Collective's video montages of memorable movie kisses, chase scenes, dancing and other clips playing out on a 36-foot-by-16-foot screen above the entrance garden. They put people in a good mood, which is the Flower Show's job.

Viewers yelled out the names of the stars and the films. They swayed to the music and sang along. They watched in awe as the tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers swooped down those famous stairs, and held their breath when Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr lunged at each other in the surf.

Isn't it romantic?

As part of its effort to attract a younger cohort to the show, PHS this year debuted a Pop Up Beer Garden in the Convention Center's Grand Hall. This spot started filling up as soon as the show opened each day, and stayed that way into the afternoon and evening.

PHS was building on a track record. At its four previous outdoor pop-ups in the city, attendance has grown from 7,000 in 2011 to 52,200 in 2014.

"It's fun. I like this. It reminds me of the pop-up gardens they do in the summer," said Dana Schaufert, of Center City, who was with her mother, Deb.

OK, this isn't horticulture. Just people doing what we all need to do once in a while: Take a break from the show.

Although PHS added hundreds of seats in and around the show - there are now 2,000 - this issue pops up every year on the list of visitor complaints.

How could it not? The show covers 10 acres. Who can walk around that big a space for any amount of time without wanting to sit down right here for a bit?

"After two hours of standing, everyone needs a place to plop down . . . and every time somebody walks out of here to find a seat, they're gone. They won't come back," said Thomas Catanese, 74, who had snatched a Convention Center chair from behind a curtain and installed himself next to the Designer's Studio.

This isn't just about seniors or people with disabilities. How about all those young families PHS is trying to attract? They're juggling strollers, diaper bags, backpacks, food, toys.

And what about people trying to eat?

"If you're serving food, there should be a place to sit," said Arlene Masi of Roxborough, who was perched on a low wall in the back of the show cutting a giant burger in half on a paper plate with a plastic knife, while trying not to knock over the black-and-white milkshake she'd set on the floor.

PHS says it's looking into possibly adding more seats in the concourse area outside the show, but inside gets tricky. Aisles have to be kept clear for crowd flow, and visitors sitting on exhibit walls can obscure views.

Here's an idea: How about enlisting show sponsor/hardscaper EP Henry's help in designing low walls that serve as both seats and effective barriers? Or partnering with volunteer architects or landscape architects (or engineers or students) to figure out how and where to add seating?

It shouldn't be this hard.

Fix the problem and those long-standing seating complaints will finally be history. And visitors to the 2016 show - with the national parks theme - won't have to take a hike to find a seat.

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