One Traveler's Opinion: Flower Shows
 

Having grown up in Florida where hibiscus and alamander bloomed year-round, the idea of a ‘flower show’ was alien to me. I could never have fathomed driving (or flying) somewhere and paying actual money to crowd into a building to see trees and bushes forced into bloom in make-believe settings.

That was, of course, before I moved ‘up north’. That was before I knew – other than intellectually - that there were places where the last leaves could fall from your trees in early October and that you’d see nothing green for six months. That was before I went stir crazy and developed cabin fever sometime in February.

Today, I’m a confirmed flower show junkie. On Saturday, I get my newest fix when the New England Flower Show opens in Boston. More about that in a moment.

There are a half dozen truly outstanding flower shows in the United States. Philadelphia has the largest. It opened last Sunday (March 2) and closes this coming Sunday (March 9). Chicago has a great one. It opens March 8 and runs through the 16th. New York has two. There’s the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden (now through mid-April), and there’s the Macy’s Flower Show which opens March 16 and runs through March 30. Macy’s may well be the most imaginative since it meanders through several floors of Macy’s Herald Square store and is there alongside the merchandise. It’s also the only one that’s free.

There is also the Queen Mother of all such events, the Chelsea Flower Show, which this year is May 20-24. I’ve been there, and it’s worth the cost of airfare just to be part of the mob. My review of that particular show is buried somewhere in the Fodors’ archives.

Why go to a flower show? Well, first of all, because it’s living proof that spring is going to arrive any month now. Inside, everything is green and smells wonderful. There’s no ice or snow, no howling winds, no Alberta Clipper to chill you down to your bones. Big shows like Philadelphia and Boston have as many as forty ‘professional’ exhibits which can be anywhere from a few thousand square feet in size to an acre. They all involve months of greenhouse forcing of material to achieve a late-spring perfection weeks before the first forsythia comes into bud.

The best shows also involve floral competitions and amateur horticulture. Got an orchid growing in your window? Bring it in and horticultural experts will judge it against ‘perfection’. The floral competitions involve several hundred entries from people with apparently unlimited budgets. You may love them or hate them, but they’re awesome to look at, and they show that creativity is alive and well in the flower world.

You also go to a flower show for the vendors. Except for the ones at Macy’s and the New York Botanical Garden, there are acres of vendors at these shows. They’re selling greenhouses, garden gnomes, Palladian gates and cute little signs to put up by your flowers. You can’t Google this stuff because you don’t know it exists. But it’s there and you can pick it up and talk to someone intelligent about it. Oh, and you can buy plants. Gorgeous plants. They’ll even rap them up so you can get them out to your car without freezing.

A good flower show also educates. You might learn about rain gardens or xericaping. You may find out the difference between monocots and dicots. You’ll likely get some good idea about what would work in your own yard, or what plants you can grow in a kitchen window. There are dozens of talks which require no advance registration: just be at the right spot at the right time, take a seat and start taking notes as an expert opines on the best way to, say, prune a tree.

The New England Flower Show, which runs March 8 to 16, is all these things. I am in awe of the people who can design such things; force several thousand rhododendron, azalea, tulips, daffodils, lilacs, etc.; and then commandeer the resources to get all those plants to a convention center and arranged into a pleasing landscape. For me, it’s an annual breath of spring air; an escape from the reality that it’s only March.

Look forward to your review after your visit. :)

I'm interested to hear what you think about the New England Flower show after your visit.

I have been to the Philly Flower Show twice and enjoyed both visits.

Recently moved to Boston and contemplated about going to the NE Flower Show. But the $20 admission is just a bit too much for me. How does the NE Flower Show compares to the Philadelphia one?

I love the New England Flower Show. The smell alone is worth the $20 to me.

YK, the Philadelphia and New England shows are considered #1 and #2 in the country, with each show having its cheering section. The biggest thing about the New England show is that it is substantially less crowded because of the layout and venue. I've been to the Philadelphia show in past years and my principal memory is not being able to move (of course, that was on a Saturday). I also give the New England show high marks for emphasis on color.

McLaurie, my somewhat guilty secret is that I spent yesterday helping to build one of the non-professional exhibits at the show, and so got a glimpse of the under-construction 'professional' exhibits in the main halls. From what I could see, they're knock-your-socks-off stunning. But I'll be back for the grand opening.

Is it worth twenty bucks a pop to go? Oh, yeah. Especially looking out my window at the relentless brown that is New England in March!

Thanks for your reply. I might reconsider... Or I could just plan on going next year.

The largest outdoor floral festival in the Southwest U.S. is in Dallas, Texas. This year, "Dallas Blooms" is being held from March 8 - April 13.

http://www.dallasarboretum.org/Events/Blooms.htm

Swisshiker, the key word there is 'outdoor'! Lucky you! But many thanks for the URL... the arboretum's show's reputation is excellent (I've never been in Dallas at the right time of year to see it) and it deserves a wide audience.

I have lived in Dallas for a couple of years and have gone to the Dallas Blooms (both the Spring one and the Fall one).

The Spring Dallas Blooms, for the most part, has tons and tons of tulips and that's pretty much it. It's nice, but very different from the Flower Shows that Neal is talking about.

These indoor Flower Shows have "themes" using many different kinds of flowers to create a scene. They are very ingenious designs. Also, many use cut flowers.

I think one really cannot compare the Dallas Blooms to Flower Shows. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

In San Francisco, we have large expensive flower shows like the annual Orchid show, and smaller once, but not less interesting, free shows. I've been to dahlia, cactus, african violets, roses, and maybe more. The local flower society holds them.

Well, then I guess I'll just have to make a point to visit one of the other shows. I've only seen this one show in Dallas, so I have nothing to compare. ((f))

Enjoy the flower show Neal! Next year it will have a new home at the BCEC, which I think is a very good thing!

I always felt that walking into the flower show after a long hard back breaking shoveling winter was akin to 'calgon, take me away" jacuzzi bath.

Time to head to Briggs for a geranium. Their hothouse makes me smile this time of year!

Last year I happened on a great Orchid show at Rockefeller center. Is that a regular event. The vendors had just amazing stuff. Wish I known the dates on the brookly show. I would have changed my NYC trip date for that one.

I just went to the flower show in providence, and it was pretty cool, but i would love to see more. I also got a cute bonasi tree there. Where is the new england flower show being held. Im looking for a particular flower, i would like to plant the bulbs myself since the plants run about $60 at the local garden place.

No offense, Neal, but you must have had your head in the sand while growing up in Florida -- or else things were different a "long time ago". For the past 30 years at least here in Naples (and it is not unusual for many other cities in Florida) there is a huge annual orchid show, a big annual hibiscus show, and various other flower shows as well, including Ikebana and other garden club flower arrangement shows.

However I think one of the most impressive displays I ever saw was the camellia show I saw in San Francisco.

In Neal's defense, Patrick, he probably was just a kid listening to rock and roll and riding his bike back in Florida. I think you grow up and into flower shows, gardening, etc., especially when you move to a completely new geographic area...just a thought. I grew up in New England and was stunned by the length of spring, the variety of flowering trees, etc., in Washington DC when I moved there as a young adult...

Flep, the show is held at the Bayside Expo Center off the Southeast Espressway (I-93) in Dorchester, roughly three miles south of the Financial District. And the vendor area is very intensive with plant sellers (where, unlike your local nursery, you can haggle over price).

Gyppielou, are you sure the move to the new Boston Convention Center is a done deal? From what I read in the newspapers, the owners of Bayside got turned down cold on their 'redevelopment' plans and the convention center, once scheduled to close and be torn down in April 2008, is now planning to be open at least through the end of the year. I could be wrong, of course.

NeoPatrick, the thing all those shows you discuss have in common (and I would think that the Fairchild Rambler would top the list) is that they're held either outdoors or in a tent. People walk to them in shorts and tank tops. To get to these specialty shows, they cruise by glorious hedges of crotons and hibiscus. They grouse that the flowers from their tulip tree and Royal Ponciana are falling too quickly and need to be raked. Up here, the trees are bare. The shrubs are bare. They've been bare since early October. There are vast, ugly banks of nuclear snow that will not melt until May. The sky is an ugly gray. It is still winter in New England, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, my friend, and the notion of a few hours indoors where, as shaz60 noted, the smell alone is worth the price of admission, is a powerful draw.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that they are the same in Florida as up north. I just took your statement "the idea of a ‘flower show’ was alien to me" to be more literal. Or that you were saying they didn't exist in Florida. Sorry. Carry on.

I'm usually a man of many words. But with regard to this year's New England Flower Show which opened yesterday in Boston, I can sum it up in one syllable: Go!

I have wonderful memories of going to The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory on Belle Isle (Detroit) with my family at Easter. It was a sure sign that yes, spring was right around the corner.

I realize this is more of a flower display not a "flower show" but the display of flowers was something very special and to think as a child, how did they get these to grow when there is still a foot of snow on the ground.

We will be visiting again this year, heck you can't beat the admission *Free*

Hi Neal: we are going to the show tomorrow; any suggestions as to how best to "attack" it and what are the "do not miss displays?" I've looked at the website...it seems overwhelming.

Vallombrosa, first, I'd opt for arriving at the show opening (10 a.m.) or around 3 p.m. when 'show fatigue' sets in and early show goers leave. Those are the least crowded hours. Next, I'd tour the garden exhibits as soon as I got there. There are two acres of them, so they take a while. Only then would I tackle the flower show, amateur horticulture and retail areas. Does that help?

Lived 2/3rds of my life "up north" and not only treasured flower shows but got my between-shows fix by going to enclosed botanical gardens and even to some of the larger flower shops/nurseries I knew of. Used to imagine building a greenhouse or "orangerie" in my lottery-winnings financed mansion.

On a brittle, dry, frozen day in February (okay, early March), nothing better than inhaling that soft, moist greenish air, with wisps of floral fragrances wafting through.

Now I live in a land of greenhouse-weather -- humid and hot half the year -- and that part of it has lost its luster. But on the other hand, we're just now beginning our six- to eight-week floral explosion for this spring. Early cherries are coming out, forsythia and daffodils are at their peak, looking forward to the dogwoods and azaleas -- and very grateful most homeowners are MUCH better gardeners than I am. (We have one nice, self-sufficient magnolia.)

yk, regarding the cost of admission. If you join the Mass Horticulture Society ($50) you get two tickets to the Flower Show, 7 issues of Horticulture Magazine, 6 issures of People, Places and Plants magazine and 6 issues of Leaflet magazine. Also, early opening hours to the show, use of the Members Lounge and free/discounted admission to other gardens and arboreta across the country. Plus other discounts. If you are a gardener it's a great deal.

I'm going tomorrow and I can't wait!

gomiki- Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately we're not gardeners. In fact, we don't even have a garden (we live in a condo). Anyway, I think I'll just wait until next year. There's always next year, right?

yk, Yep, there's always next year!

My wife has the green thumb. In fact, she has mine, as well. All I know is that flowers are sometimes pretty.

She did take her new digital camera to this year's Philadelphia Flower Show.... I believe the theme was New Orleans. Some evidence is at http://picasaweb.google.com/bookhall

The two sure signs of spring in Boston are the St. Patricks Day parade in South Boston and the New England Flower Show. Its like the entire region breathes a sign of relief just knowing those two events have occurred. With good planning you can go to both on the same day - the last day of the show is usually the same day as the parade.

Where is "Briggs" that has the great geraniums ???

Briggs Garden is in North Attleborough, a couple miles off Route 95.

Just returned from NYC and the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden - if you are in NYC don't miss it - what a fabulous treat , esp at this time of year - I think is is there until April 6

www.nybg.org

If you're taking in the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden, don't miss its incredible adjunct. While the massed displays of colorful orchids (as well as the crowds) are in the Enid Haupt conservatory, there's another astonishing display of extremely rare (and fragrant) orchids in the rotunda of the Mertz Library (the big, six-story building up the hill from the conservatory).

These are the 'rescued' orchids; seized from cargo at JFK and other northeast airports. NYBG is the repository for these orchids, many of them extremely rare and occasionally previously unknown. They're on public view only once a year. Once they've been identified, the're 'repatriated' to their country of origin.