This year, Flower Show's International ... and how

Imagine yourself standing amid Brazil's Amazon jungle as colorful parrots known as sun conures squawk and fly above your head.

Then, just a few steps away, you're part of an Indian wedding, surrounded by strings of marigold,golden columns of jasmine and a life-size floral elephant.

Not far away, you can hear drummers calling you to the thatched huts of the Zulu people of South Africa, or you can visit Singapore, where elegant, fragile orchids pop about around you.

You're actually in Center City, at the 2010 newly named Philadelphia International Flower Show, which this year is themed "Passport to the World." The show begins with a members-only preview Feb. 27, then opens to the public Feb. 28 to March 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets.

Jane Pepper, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which produces the show, the oldest and largest indoor flower show in the world, said at a news conference yesterday that the show will be global, fun and educational.

Sam Lemheney, show designer, promised "one heck of a journey and adventure to exotic locations around the world."An Explorer's Garden will feature a 28-foot-tall hot-air balloon, covered in 80,000 flowers. And, yes, the Brazil exhibit will feature live parrots.

New this year, visitors can buy and print their tickets at www.theflowershow.com. Also new will be a "cell-phone tour" at the exhibit.

Besides the large, creative, landscaped designs, gardening presentations and vendors selling their blooms, the show will feature live entertainment booked by World Cafe Live. The husband-wife duo of Orlando Haddad and Patricia King, who form the band Minas, will bring the warm sounds of Brazilian bossa nova jazz, sambas and ballads to soothe the flower-frenzied crowd from about 11 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. every day.

If you prefer "a lot of fast-beat, action-packed dancing," as choreographer Rujuta Vaidya described it by phone yesterday, check out the Bollywood dancers March 1-6, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Ruj, as she is known internationally, choreographed the "Slumdog Millionaire" dance medley at the 2009 Oscars. And she worked with Britney Spears to choreograph a Bollywood piece for the singer's "Circus Tour."

Ruj, who was reared in New Jersey and now lives in New York City, said she will be at the preview party the evening of Feb. 27. For those tickets, call 215-988-8830. Guests at the party will be honoring Pepper, who is retiring at the end of May. *