The Philadelphia Flower Show 2013

The Philadelphia Flower Show “BRILLIANT”...the theme at the 2013 Philadelphia flower show, a tribute to all things English. The flower adorned palace gates, a fabulous display of English roses and a royal throne made of cut red roses as you entered the show were just that, brilliant. The light and graphics show from Big Ben was spectacular, especially the video on British Pop culture which included everything from Twiggy to Monty Python to the Rolling Stones. The smell of flowers was intoxicating. It never ceases to amaze me how growers force all sorts of trees, bulbs, flowers and shrubs into flower outside their usual bloom times.

The highlight for me though is always the individual judged plants and they have finally been displayed in a much more deserved setting thanks to a $1 million dollar gift just for this purpose. A six foot high geranium full of blooms, an enormous stag horn fern, succulents of every kind, just incredible specimens each and every one.

New this year was a new plant showcase. Featured were a coral coleus ‘under the sea’, a petunia that is grape colored with a variegated leaf, a stunning primula “blue zebra” and my personal favorite was the Calibrachoa Superbells Lemon slice, you cannot help but smile when you see it.

This was my fifth show and while it did have some disappointments, and can seem repetitive, it is still worth a trip every year. Now if I can just figure out where to build a Living Wall in the house and where in the yard I can plant a Witch hazel tree...