Phila Flower 2010

Highlights from the Philadelphia Flower Show, a little late!



Terrariums, of course.



This crown is made entirely of plant materials. Click on it to see the incredible details: little baskets with eggs, tiny birds with feathers sticking out of the tops of their heads, tiny dogwood blossoms!



A tropical "outdoor" bedroom.



The Netherlands exhibit, I love the canals with bikes in them and the tulips growing out of the walkway.



Just craziness.



Window boxes.



The winning balcony.



And finally, this was one of the most interesting exhibits I've seen at the flower show in a while, by Moda Botanica. They used shipping containers and had local graffiti artists Distraught and Distort cover them with art.



I actually recognized the art from around my house, I've posted some of it before.



I was especially thrilled with the Jane Pepper art (the retiring head of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society - she's very distinctive looking). She even signed one of them!







And a few days after the show I ran into this on my walk to work.



All in all, it was the most exhausting and satisfying flower show ever (and I'm so happy it's over)!

Soup and Salad: From Camden to the World!

That's the name of our exhibit at the Philadelphia International Flower Show! The show runs from Sunday, Feb. 28th to Sunday, March 7th, 2010. I spent all of last week in the Philadelphia Convention Center setting up our display, and it was so incredible to see the show take form. When I got there on Tuesday it was mostly carpenters and masons setting up the infrastructure of the exhibits and by the end of the week we were sweeping, labelling our plants, and making last minute adjustments (shining this leaf, staking that flower, etc).







Our exhibit shows off the Community Garden Program at the Camden Children's Garden and emphasizes healthy eating (here's an article on the exhibit from the Philadelphia Inquirer!). It also displays the Campbell Soup Factory, without which Camden, NJ would probably not even exist. Campbell's employed most of the town at one point, and they are currently building their new headquarters in Camden. The gigantic soup bowl and the soup can water tower that are part of our display will be going back to the headquarters to become part of their landscaping.





As you move through the exhibit you see a landscaped factory, an orchard of citrus and fig trees, and a vegetable garden. There is a windmill with the Camden Children's Garden logo, a gigantic salad plate planted with lettuce seedlings, and several topiaries that represent children working in the garden.





And I got to design part of the exhibit! The little vegetable and herb garden on the corner of the exhibit was my idea and my responsibility. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out!







If you're in Philly please come by and see me at the exhibit on Wednesday, March 3rd or Friday, March 5th!