Boston gone? Philly too far? Little known flower show!

15 years ago

Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm pretty addicted

to SOME sort of horticultural stimulus during the winter,

and have been known to travel just to get it. . .

So: for those of you still mourning the demise of the

Boston Flower Show, and for whom the Philly show is just

not logistically possible, here's a doable one-day trek,

especially from western CT or MASS.

From March 12-19, 2009, make a trip to Springfest Home and

Garden Show, in Sussex County, NJ (that's NW New Jersey,

exactly a two-hour drive from Danbury, CT). . .it's smaller

than either Boston or Philly, of course, but it's utterly

charming, not the least reason being that it definitelty

feels like a Country Fair, with all the garden displays

sited in two huge greehouse buildings, one of which is

making it's debut this year. The food tent has always been exceptional (much of it home made and local), the many

sales booths are diverse and interesting (including two of

the most sophisicated nurseries in NJ). . .and did I mention that it's absolutely kid-friendly, and ridiculously inexpensive.

In the past, Ken Druse has always given one of their lectures, but I notice their speakers list hasn't been updated. . .anyway, leave your expections at home and come be pleasantly surprised, just as I was when I first discovered this show, quite by accident, nearly six years ago!

Carl

Here is a link that might be useful: Springfest Flower & Garden Show

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Comments (14)

diggingthedirt
15 years ago
Thanks, Carl!

Does anyone know if this is the show that's been featured on the landscape design forum for several years? One of the best contributors there (was it Michelle?) used to post a play-by-play of her exhibit: design, test, build, and show. It was always fascinating and I'd thought of going to see it in person a few times, but never quite made the trip.
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
15 years ago
That show was off the Garden State Parkway (I'm fairly sure) I did consider going down a couple of times, but never did.
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Hie thyself to a store and buy the new issue of "People, Places, Plants" magazine. It has a complete rundown of all the flower shows in New England, and there are a bunch more than I ever knew about. It also has a great article about Allen Haskell's son and another landscape designer who will be doing a knock-your-socks-off (sounds like) exhibit at the Boston show. Allen Haskell used to do the most spectacular exhibits at that show and is, of course, now departed this earth. IMHO, no New England gardener can do without this magazine. And Sedum37, Pearl Harbor is #1 on my list to visit in Hawaii. I am reading "At Dawn We Slept" about the attack right now--chilling. My father was a WW2 vet, two of my uncles were in German prison camps--one shot down over France and one captured in battle. My sister in law's father was on a ship at Pearl Harbor and survived the attack--still with us today. You can be very sure I will visit and pay tribute to my parents' generation, and to those who did not come home.
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Hi Wendy, Yes, that's the one. It was the class project of floriculture students in their "Interior Plantscapes" course at North Shore Community College/Essex Agricultural & Technical Institute. I'm not in that course (I'm taking floral design), but volunteered to be grunt labor. It was fun helping. It was the first time I ever was behind the scenes at a flower show. So now I know what happens to the plants afterward... Here's the scoop: - Expensive and specimen plants go back with the landscapers to their greenhouses to wait out the chilly weather until it's safe to go outside. Gorgous mature trees and shrubs were no way going to be thrown out. Some of them were worth $thousands. - Anything of use or value, such as accessories, rocks, decor, was taken back by exhibitors. - cheapo and disposable plant materials such as common flowering bulbs, annuals and inexpensive tropical plants get thrown out. Exhibitors were throwing out stuff they used to fill in cracks between rocks, like succulents, mosses and small bulb flowers. There were also water hyacinths being tossed from water features. Over in the vendor area, some of the orchid sellers were giving away damaged plants. An herb seller marked everything down to $1 a pot. For the NSCC we threw out most of the annuals and bulbs because they were getting lanky and weren't worth the effort of coddling (we saved some annuals such as sweet alyssum and English Bella daisies for a fundraising plant sale at the Aggie, since they'll bloom all season) and biennials that were blooming and at the end of their cycle. We tossed the sheets of perennial rye that covered the table. Mass. Hort. volunteers were patrolling the floors in search of goodies! They politely asked whether they could have some of the plants, and were rewarded with all the bellas and alyssum they could tote. A gentleman asked for the snapdragon and verbascum flowers as a bouquet, and we snipped them for him, but tossed the plants. The lamb in your photo was part of a pair (one black, one white) of eight-week-olds loaned for the exhibit by a farm couple from Acushnet. I met them on Thursday night before the show when we were setting up. The wife was worried because the lambs had never been away from their mother, and they bleated ALL evening and probably the night. By the time I saw them the next week, they were settled down and resigned to being on display. By the final Sunday, they looked tired and ready to go home. I was glad their owners rescued them! I also watched the workers at another display catching the ornamental swans to take home. Poor things didn't want to go. They liked their paradise.
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I went to Philadelphia this year - it blew Boston's show away. And I liked that the vendors all were at least related to flowers and/or gardening - no fridge's and washing machines on display like Boston has had the past few years. I know someone who's a vender who dropped out of the NE Flower Show about 5 years ago. They say it was financial shenanigans that killed the show. Mass Hort. made it very hard for vendors, it was very expensive for them and it just wasn't worth it any longer. They go to the Philly show every year and even with hiring a truck to transport everything, staying in hotels for almost 2 weeks considering the time it takes to set up, then break down a display, it was a better deal than NE ever was for them. I've been going for years and the past few years it's been pathetic. I still always went just for that fix in March when you just can't stand it anymore and need to smell the dirt and the mulch, but the displays were no better than what you'd see at your local garden centers. The same old tired plants used over and over and over again. I would like to see it return, but it needs some new blood in there to make it interesting again and get some focus on the plant variety. They jumped the shark the year they had the Disney displays. If I want to look at carnations dyed fake colors I can get them at the local florist. I want some HORTICULTURE from Mass. Horticulture!! Lisa
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It really depends on what your kids are interested in. We were zoo members when my kids were little. I think first of all the weather is iffy lately. It was in the low-40s this morning (and morning is when you said you'd be going). There are some really nice displays but getting to the zoo takes a little drive from Center City. The Schuylkill (the road you take) is ALWAYS jam packed. I don't know if you'll have a car -- you didn't mention that. Anyway, it wouldn't be my first choice. The Camden Aquarium -- the only one around, so I assume it's what you mean. You're going to have to either cross the bridge and drive into Camden or take the ferry across the river from Center City (minor hassle). It's an okay aquarium. It's newer than your Boston Aquarium. There are some really nice exhibits but as you say, it's similar to what you've seen. The one thing that is kind of nice is that the Battleship New Jersey is next to the Aquarium. If your kids have never been inside an aircraft carrier they might really like that. It's like the Intrepid in NYC. As far as I know Boston doesn't have anything like that. The Franklin Institute is in the city, very close to everything. With 3 days you don't really lose any time traveling like you do with the other attractions. I don't know what's there right now. Within walking distance is also the Academy of Natural Sciences. You could probably hit up both of those if you wanted to. Have you checked the www.uwishunu.com tourist website? My kids are science crazy so the Mutter would be on their list. If your kids like cars, one little known museum is the Simeone Car museum. It's a beautiful collection of European racing cars. It is not very well known. Also little known is the American Chemical Society museum on Chestnut and 3rd. Near that (this part of town is called Olde City) is the Benjamin Franklin ghost house and the Benjamin Franklin museum/post office. It's in a complex called Franklin Court. By complex, I mean an open courtyard, not a building complex. There is an underground museum about Franklin, statesman/inventor/scientist etc. I'm not sure of the hours, there was some renovation going on so you should check that it's actually open. The ghost house is a robert venturi project, it's the outline in white beams of the actual house that Franklin lived in with his wife Deborah. It's burnt down now but they did some excavation and did artifacts. It's a national park service site, there are sometimes historians and guides there who can tell you what you're looking at. There is a very cool ice cream parlor near there also called Franklin Fountain. It is a perfect Victorian ice cream parlor. www.franklinfountain.com. Very historic with flavors you'll never find anywhere else. The servers wear authentic barbershop quartet type outfits. Again, I've never seen this anywhere else. Another little museum in the neighborhood is the American Philosophical Museum. This is another of Franklin's inventions. It was founded by Franklin as a place for people to debate and discover and it still exists. They have a small museum with changing exhibits -- one I saw a little while back was all about Steampunk art, so it's not a dusty fusty place at all. Each of these places only take 30 - 40 minutes to walk through. They're not expensive either. I think we only paid maybe $3 a person at the American Philosophical Museum when we were last there. What's nice is you can sort of "chain" them together and en route, stop of coffee, bathroom breaks, and see some of the beautiful pocket gardens and brownstones. The gardens should be blooming by then (we're a little ahead of Boston for blooming times).
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hunt4carl
Original Author
15 years ago
Ummm. . .you're thinking of the New Jersey Flower & Garden Show, one of NJ's best kept secrets. . .fortunately. . .

All right, that's not fair - I'm here to report, not judge.
This is a show in it's seventh year, after being taken over
by a giant "EVENTS" producer. Each year (yes, I do attend - how else would you all get to hear about these
things?), the show gets just the tiniest bit better, but that's not saying much after the nightmarish first years.
Too me, it's still an uncomfortable hodgepodge: one vast
corner of the (very sterile) exhibition hall, is given over to an automobile dealership - if you like your cars
surrounded by a low stone wall and a couple of potted
plants, then you'll be thrilled. Last year, a few of the
garden exhibitions were quite good; too many of the "garden" exhibits are just covers for someone selling
paving blocks or bad landscaping. Most of the garden club/society stuff is very well-meaning, some of it excellent, some of it embarassing. The "garden-related"
marketplace is a total free-for-all: everything from a few
actual plants to the latest in wine corkscrews, and everything in between. . .just awful. Overall, there just
isn't any cohesive element that links it all together or
demands a standard of excellence.

Maybe I'm completely spoiled, having been raised on the
Boston Flower Show, and spending the last 40 years
wallowing in the Philadelphia Flower Show. Maybe I'm just a snob. . .but here's the thing: asked to choose, I'd
recommend "Springfest" over the "NJ Flower & Garden Show",
hands down. It's just a more pleasant experience. . .

So: I shall report back on both of these shows, so you'll
have idea of what you did (or didn't!) miss. . .ironically,
Ken Druse IS listed as a participant in the "NJF&G Show".
And, for complete transparency, here's the listing for the
"other" show. . .

Carl

Here is a link that might be useful: New Jersey Flower & Garden Show
ctlady_gw
15 years ago
I'm not a huge fan of flower shows as a general rule, but I trust Carl's recommendation on this one (which sounds like fun -- especially the part about the food tent!) and would be interested in carpooling down if any CTSwappers are interested. An early start to spring!

I could only make it the earlier days (12th-16th) since I've got other commitments the 17th and 18th. But if anyone would like to go, I'd be interested (and happy to drive!)

/ Marty
hunt4carl
Original Author
15 years ago
Your other commitments on the 17th and 18th, Marty, are no
conflict. . .since the show only runs from the 12th through
the 15th! :)

Thursday and Friday, of course, will be the least crowded -I'm planning on being there one of those days, but shall wait to pick a day in case a carload of CTSwappers decide to make the trip. . .

Carl
carol6ma_7ari
15 years ago
Too far! It's at least a 5 hour drive from Boston! But there is a RI Flower Show Feb. 19-22, in Providence. Anyone interested in going?

Here is a link that might be useful: Rhode Island Flower Show
diggingthedirt
15 years ago
Some good speakers at the RI show this year - Ken Druse is on at 1:00 pm Saturday, February 21. I really like his books and, unless I'm mistaken, he's a good speaker.

Karl Gercens is at noon on both Friday & Saturday - I haven't seen him before, but he's from Longwood Gardens (PA). Paul Miskovsky, an expert in xeriscaping from Falmouth, is doing 3 different talks; he's very involved in MassHort, and did the main display garden with Allen Haskell for several years at the NE show. Then there's the Designer Forum - I've been meaning to get to that for years but ... maybe this year!
peterr
15 years ago
NE show not gone.last minute efforts to save show finalized today.show dates march 14 thru 22.details to bo posted soon.
judyefd
15 years ago
Peter,

Thanks for bringing this up. I checked out the Mass Hort website and found they are not putting up the full show at Bayside Expo. But they are doing a small show in mid-March near the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

I am desperate to see, smell and touch flowers!

Judye

Here is a link that might be useful: NE Spring Flower Show
runktrun
15 years ago
Hmmm...is it just me or does anyone else think Mass Hort should consider paying it's creditors before it hosts another gala ball?
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
15 years ago
My first thought was this was really a fundraiser designed to get money to pay people. The money has to come from somewhere, right? But looking at the information, I can see where money goes out, but not where money is going to come in.

My garden association raised much more money than expected last summer from a wine and cheese garden party. However, you do have to charge admission....
crnaskater
15 years ago
The Connecticut Flower & Garden Show runs Thursday, Feb 19 10 am-8 pm) thru Sunday Feb 22 (10 am-6 pm) at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford CT. I always enjoy it! Sorry I don't have an immediate link to offer, but you probably can find it via google.
hunt4carl
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm just a googling fool. . .here's your info:

Here is a link that might be useful: Connecticut Flower & Garden Show
diggingthedirt
15 years ago
Hmmm, Hartford. Sydney Eddison is speaking on Saturday, Tovah Martin on Sunday...

Boston gone? Philly too far? Little known flower show!

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