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Philadelphia Flower Show
March 6-7th, 2007
‘Legends of Ireland’
I arrived at the hotel, the Radisson
Warwick, the evening of the 5th. It was cold and windy but I was excited
because I hadn’t seen the show for a few years and I had remembered that it
was an incredible show. My room was very inviting, warm and quiet. I quickly
settled in with a nice cup of tea while I went through my paperwork for the
show. If you are ever in the area, do check out this hotel. The staff really
know their stuff. Then it was off to bed because tomorrow was an early day.
The show ran from March 4th to the 11th and was at the Pennsylvania
Convention Center. In my mind it ranks as one of the top shows to attend. It
is a show that you need more than one day to appreciate because you must
position yourself to take in the gardens, listen to the speakers, enjoy
afternoon tea and be there for the daily presentations. Then fit in the many
visits to the marketplace because there are so many things to look at – and
buy of course. In between all this you have to see all the horticultural and
artistic competitive classes in floral design, artwork, jewellery,
containers, window boxes and then the visit to the houseplant section is a
must see too! This year the azalea trees and the absolutely huge pale yellow
Clivia were outstanding. How can you do it all in one day? I had two days
and was going to make the best of it before heading off to Canada Blooms in
Toronto.
Having been to Ireland I was especially looking forward to the show. Steve
Maurer a fellow garden writer friend and the shows best promoter was saying
that the PHS had its first show in 1829 and themes for the shows began about
30 years ago. They expect around 250,000 visitors to the show and all the
money is put back into community projects. The lecture series has proven
very popular as he figures about 50 percent of those who attend the shows
come to learn. This years theme was based on the trip that Sam Lemheney made
to Ireland where every visit brought stories to tell.
So as you go through the gardens, don’t be surprised if you see fairy houses
and mythical creatures, for in the make believe land of Tir-Na-nOg, the
flowers are always blooming and the leaves are always green.
The PHS is the largest annual indoor flower show in the world and the oldest
U.S. flower show. It also holds two records in the Guinness World Record for
longest running horticultural show and earliest documented horticultural
show. Quite an achievement and one well deserved.
Of course there was still a lot that I missed, especially seeing Helen
Dillon again. I have been to her garden in Ireland a couple of times and I
would have loved to have met her but she was speaking on the Friday evening
and I left for CB’s on Thursday. You can’t do it all, but you can sure try!
I even made time to visit the King Tut exhibit….there are more than 130
treasures belonging to King Tut and his royal relatives on view. 50 of those
were excavated from his tomb, including his gold crown that was on his head.
Make time to see this too as Philly is the final and only east coast stop.
A very special thank you to the Radisson Warwick (by the way, they have a
great King Tut package) and to Joanne Cunningham!
http://www.radisson.com/webExtra.do?hotelCode=PAPHILY
GPTMC Great Philadelphia Tourism Marketing
www.gophila.com
http://www.kingtut.org/home
GoPhila just has to be one of the best tourism marketing groups that I have
ever dealt with…always accommodating, be sure you visit this site before
heading there as there is so much to see, you don’t want to miss anything.
Thanks so much Joanne Schorr!
And Steve Maurer of the PHS
http://www.theflowershow.com/home/index.html a great show Steve!
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