I did not go through hell to get to the Philadelphia Flower Show, but my faithful PFS companion and I went through every possible permutation of “wintery mix” to get home. It doesn’t matter; the trip was worth it. The flower show this year was big, bold and beautiful, not to mention being worth the wait after six weeks of snow, ice and arctic weather.
The theme was “Celebrate the Movies,” with many of the display gardens themed to match Walt Disney and Pixar titles. The Disney/Pixar angle had the potential to produce some cloying displays and I had imagined a flower show that would make me feel as if I were imprisoned inside a giant animation cel. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Yes, the display garden inspired by the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” sequence from the 1940 animated classic, Fantasia, featured mechanical dancing brooms, but the garden around it was beautiful. The big display gardens had more than enough charm, color and ingenuity to do great credit to Disney, Pixar and the whole world of movies. Purists and fusty garden snobs might quibble, but I thought the combination of horticultural virtuosity and popular accessibility was just right.
But then, the Philadelphia Flower Show has often been over the top in its nearly 200 years of existence. The Official Guide shows photos from the 1935 show—mounted during the height of the Great Depression—that depicts an exhibit centered on a long rectangular water feature flanked by 20,000 blue hyacinths and 300 acacia trees from the Joseph E. Widener acacia collection. A year later, W. Atlee Burpee’s exhibit recreated an estate garden, which, in the words of the Guide, was complete with “an upper and lower level, with a mansion at one end and steps leading down to an elaborately planted garden.” The photo shows a lovely balustrade in the background as well. What are a few dancing brooms by comparison?
Evoking the movie theme, the show’s entrance was home to a towering Art Deco theater façade, complete with a 29-foot high marquee of flowers. The entrance garden also featured an array of hybrid tea roses named after movie stars. I strolled by the bodacious apricot ‘Marilyn Monroe’, stalwart yellow ‘Henry Fonda’ and flashy yellow and red ‘Judy Garland’. I didn’t see the luscious yellow ‘Gina Lollabrigida’, but I had a feeling she was there. The garden also held some 1,500 calla lilies, a flower that seems to pop up everywhere now.
And flowers abounded. This show was the most flowery in several years. I don’t know if that is a sign of the rebounding economy, an acknowledgement that flowers and color draw the big crowds, or just an illustration of the cyclical nature of horticultural fashion, but it was refreshing. Though there were plenty of water features, stone walls and other handscape features, they did not predominate as they have some years.
The high tide of vegetable gardening peaked about two years ago, but many display gardens held edibles. Vertical gardening, one of this year’s fashion trends, was in evidence, with several displays containing the specially designed wall units that enable large or small “green walls.” The effect, when well done, is striking, but every time I see those green walls, I wonder how long it will take before water ultimately penetrates the wall underneath. Also, green walls, like any collection of growing things, take maintenance. Hardly anyone thinks about that at the outset and even fewer people want to think of that a year or two later.
But the Philadelphia Flower Show is not about those sorts of considerations; it is about fantasy and there was plenty of that. Of course proximity to all that color, chlorophyll and commercialism induces a form of insanity and I give in to it the instant I walk in the entrance of the exhibition hall. From the first display I make mental plant lists for my garden. Invariably I see an alluring clematis or heuchera or primrose that I must have. I am not sold on the necessity of growing calla lilies yet, but if they continue to play important roles at the Philadelphia Flower Show, I am sure it will happen.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which runs the show, has a large sale area in the middle of the exhibition hall. Members of their staff circulate through, chatting with show goers. I met Glenn Ashton, Head Gardener at the PHS headquarters, Meadowbrook Farm. Our conversation was one of the highpoints for me as we traded horticultural talk, compared notes on plant vendors and discussed ways of attracting hummingbirds to the garden. I walked away with the euphoria that only comes from a great conversation with someone with a passion for a subject. Of course I also walked away with a cyclamen that I have never grown before. Great plant conversations may also exacerbate certain forms of garden insanity.
And that is probably the best thing about the Philadelphia Flower Show—the opportunity to bond with hundreds of other people who love plants, yearn for spring and draw inspiration from gardens and gardening. The crowds can be daunting, but the feeling is good. Though the earth is frozen, my horticultural engine is stoked. The season has begun.