"Jazz It Up," the music and gardens of New Orleans, is the theme for this year's show, which runs from March 2 to 9 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 11th and Arch Streets.

Jane G. Pepper, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which puts on the show, urged the small gathering to add "a touch of New Orleans" to their gardens this year by incorporating new ideas from "Jazz it Up." She also encouraged everyone to travel to the city, as she did recently for a wedding.

"That way we in Philadelphia can really help the people in New Orleans," Pepper said, referring to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Exhibits at the Flower Show will feature thousands of tropical plants, such as bromeliads, magnolias and palms, filling the lush courtyard and balcony gardens of a recreated Crescent City. And there'll be music from the likes of Big Sam's Funky Nation and the Hoppin' John Orchestra, with traditional New Orleans-style "second-line parades" winding their way through the crowd to the Bourbon Street Stage.

The show's central feature, which introduces visitors to the theme, will be a large archway of floating piano keys, musical notes and waterfall created by show designer Sam Lemheney with Lamsback Floral Decorators of Center City.

Of those working on this year's show, Lemheney said this morning, "The energy level is out of control."

There also will be a series of "rhythm rooms" in a fanciful jazz club, each containing vignettes inspired by the geometric shapes and vibrant colors of modern art.

The week-long Flower Show typically draws about 250,000 visitors and is the horticultural society's biggest fundraiser, bringing in $1 million for Philadelphia Green, its urban gardening program. The show, with PNC Bank as its lead sponsor, pumps an estimated $30 million into the local economy, according to the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

For information, go to www.theflowershow.com.