Philadelphia Flower Show

A few weeks ago I saw a blurb in the local newspaper about a bus trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Initially, we thought it was a crazy idea to take a whole day away, just 9 days before leaving for our big trip to Malta.  However, after some discussion, we signed up.  So, on Tuesday, March 8th, we got up at 5:00 a.m., climbed on the bus at 6:15 a.m., along with about 150 other people (3 buses!) and traveled to Philadelphia.  One of the reasons I wanted to go is that the theme this year is Explore America: 100 Years of the National Park Service.  Having had such a wonderful trip to the Mighty 5 last October, I wanted to see if any of the displays were of the Mighty 5.

It was kind of thrilling to see the entrance into the convention hall with the NPS logo.  I really do want to see as many of the 59 national parks as I can.  But for today, we saw floral depictions of about a dozen or so, all unique and interesting.

Upon arriving at about 10:30, the convention hall was jam packed.  We learned later that today was the largest number of buses coming to the show – 85 of them!  Typically, only 20-30 buses arrive per day.  I think all 85 arrived within about 30 minutes of each other because the crush of people entering was rather overwhelming.  However, in time, things calmed down and people spread out, and we were able to go back to the beginning to see more of what we couldn’t due to the bunches of people.

The Philadelphia Convention Center area is over 10 acres of space in the great hall.  About two-thirds is exhibits and the other third is vendor space.  All the displays had to use only plant material and so each display really was like a park.  It is amazing what gets dragged in to the hall for the exhibits –  buildings, huge rocks, waterfalls, ponds and lakes, all kinds of structures, things hanging from the ceiling, and lots of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers.  The entrance was constructed to make you feel like you were entering a great timber lodge.

Once through the great timber lodge, then on to the displays of several parks.  I did not know that the nomenclature used within the NPS includes 20 different park category names, such as, National Historical Park, National Memorial, National Scenic Trail, National Preserve, etc., totaling 401 different NPS sites.  Some of the parks depicted at the show included Yellowstone National Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Independence National Historic Park, Acadia National Park, First State National Historical Park, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and Congaree National Park.  Some of the places I had never heard of, but now I want to go and visit.

I think our favorite display was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  The vendor doing the display was Waldor Orchids and the display was covered in lush tropical greenery and loaded with beautiful orchids.

The only Mighty 5 park that had a display was Arches. I didn’t think it was all that interesting.  The display was titled Postcards from Arches and it depicted 5 different famous themes seen at Arches including Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch and Park Avenue.  They all were kind of abstract and an interview of the designer quoted him as saying that “the display presented more of an urban industrial interpretation of the park.”

One of the most interesting displays was one of Ansel Adams and the National Parks.  Several arrangements displayed depictions of various famous Adams photographs.  There was one depicting the famous Adams photo of aspens in the Grand Canyon National Park. It was really beautiful in that rather stark image quality that Adams photos have.  And around some of the trees were white roses that had black coloring along the petals.  I had never seen that before.

Of course, in national parks you’ll see wildlife.  And we certainly were treated to wildlife, all created from natural fibers and plants.

My favorite was this little guy hiding in a nest hanging in a really spectacular display of Redwood National Park.

The Philadelphia Flower Show is the nation’s largest and longest-running horticultural event.  The Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) started the show in 1829.  And, in addition to the grand scale park displays, the Flower Show is juried by the PHS on many types of individual entries.  There were competitive displays in the areas of floral design, gardens, miniature settings, jewelry, mini arrangements, pressed plants, pedestals, and a variety of individual flowers and plants.  Orchids seem to be Christine’s and my favorite because we both took the most photos of orchids.

I also particularly liked the bonsai displays.  The patience and skill it must take to form and maintain these sculptures is remarkable.

Many of the miniature arrangements were also quite beautiful. Here’s the grand prize winner. This was in a little window that was about a foot square.  The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it was stunning.  The colors jumped right out and smacked you in the face.

And what would a spring flower show be without spring flowers?  The tulips were really spectacular and in any shade you could wish for.

And here’s a bunch of other photos of all sorts of things on display.

The pictures made of pressed plant material is also another favorite of ours.  It’s amazing how people can create such intricate pictures using tiny pieces of plant material.  I guess you need a steady hand and a good pair of tweezers.

March 8 is International Women’s Day, so the show had several special events lined up.  One nice thing was that they were handing out a small bouquet of tulips and irises to female attendees. A very informative and interesting talk we attended was about women in the NPS.  The NPS deputy director, Peggy O’Dell, and another female park ranger participated.   But the best part of this panel was Betty Reid Soskin.  She is a park ranger at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Homefront Historical National Park.  She is the oldest park ranger at age 94.  However, surprisingly, she didn’t start her NPS service until age 85!  She was quite interesting to hear, and is very passionate about her park service.

We had a great, but tiring, day at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  A trip to the show wouldn’t be complete without a walk across the street to the Reading Terminal Market.  But, wow, was it ever a zoo!  We roamed around trying to decide what to eat and then to find a place to sit.  We got both our lunch and a take away dinner from the market.  And I had one of those yummy Miller’s Twist soft pretzels.  Our bus departed at 6:00 p.m. and we were back home by a little after 10:00.  It was a fun day!