Staff Blog
Philadelphia Flower Show 2008
posted by mary armstrong
Peppers and Ladles
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Orchids growing along side the bayou cabin
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Show goers watch Hoppin’ John
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Hoppin’ John
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Went to the flower show mid-week, looking to see how the NOLA theme, including lots of gritty-hot music, worked with the sometime precious airs of the flower show. . When you stand 5′2" the old saying "unless you are the lead dog the scenery never changes." applies to that crowd scene. Shorties learn to strategize – when will crowds be lighter? The web site says come after 4 p.m. -is there a curfew on tour buses ("be outta town by sunset!")? After 4 didn’t work with the band I wanted to see interacting with the flower show hordes, so I wheedled a pre-opening spin through the hall thanks to the obliging nature of Alan Jaffe, Horticultural Society press tsar. Here is most important take away from that whole visit: no matter how high the extra tariff for the early morning tours, you owe it to yourself to go at least once when there are no crowds. What joy to pass without playing thread the needle, to linger a moment at something you really admire and not have somebody’s hoagie breath leaning over you. Pay the Society whatever they want for these private tours. Yes, they are high dollar but if you’re from the city it is really an investment in your own backyard -or at least the streetscape, because the funds go to programs like Philadelphia Green. Now that you’re excited the bad news is the early tours are sold out for this year, but if you go to the website you can get on the mailing list to be first in line for next years tours, complete with docents who sound authoritative on growing things. http://www.theflowershow.com
Loved that prizewinning arrangement of yellow peppers and red ladles in what appears to be a purple yard long Hurricane glass. The bayou cabin was another fave, circled with orchids. A recreation of a beaver dam charmed as well as informed. Always inspiring, the wall of overflowing window boxes, taller above and spilling further down than ever, fueled my resolve to try again (and maybe spend on the "selfwatering kind" avoid my annual baked flowers event). Anybody with a scrap of dirt and no clue where to start shouldn’t miss the Children’s Garden from Camden, showing intermixed flowers and vegetables, with swiss chard in all its technicolor glory is as decorative as it is delicous.
Over in the vendors area reps from New Orleans sat forlorn and abandoned while folks elbowed for a chance at the begonia bulbs. Sigh. Let’s hope that folks get fired up by the pagentry and traditions represented through out the displays and in the music, because years later, Katrina-country still needs some bucking up.
Back to the preciousness feared in the first sentence. With all the glitter of mardi gras floats for reference, the frequently over the top sparkle and showmanship of the formal displays found a happy outlet. The Bourbon Street stage was built to look like a side street back in the quarter, with suggestions of the fancy wrought iron work and for real containers of flowers and plants everywhere. Yes, our own secondliners Hoppin’ John, did pull ‘em over there.. No seats in front of the stage, so all the blue hairs croweded in where the dancing should’ve been taking place, looking for all the world that given enough time, they were gonna eventually shake it. Hoppin’ John is reason I’d dream braving those crowd. They are one of this city’s under-utilized forces of nature. Beats? Clean and hotly syncopated. Horns? Blasting and no hesitation on intonation. They’ll be playing daylight hours through Sunday (last day of show)… close your eyes, feel the heat of the crowd, catch the drift of jasmine and gardenia, hyacinth and narcissus in the air and, yeah, you can be in NOLA for a minute.
