F is for Flower Show

For years my only reference for a flower show was the neighborhood gathering of gardeners in the World War II movie Mrs. Miniver where the rich English dowager of the neighborhood always won the prize for her roses. Then I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show. Props to them for being the nation's largest and the world's longest running (1829) horticultural event. Attending this show introduced me to plants I had never known before and made me want...so many things. Like a water fountain made of orange bicycles (that was the year the theme was Holland - famous for their bicycles and attachment to the color orange). In other years I purchased three dozen roses for $15 (it was the end of the show), tasted lavender truffles and walked through a tunnel made of orchids.

For an area beat down by endless winter storms, scheduling it in March is a genius move.

Too early for any outdoor gardening but late enough that cabin fever has truly descended. Of It can make things a little unpredictable too. One year I went to the show on a Monday and had to call into work the next day because our bus just beat a blizzard home from Philadelphia and I was snowed in at my house, wishing I was still at the Flower Show.

If you can got go a flower show of any size, do it. You will be amazed. Check out your local public gardens, gardening clubs and your county or state fair.

Watch a video about the Philadelphia Flower Show HERE