Molie: thanks for posting those pictures, becaiuse now I'll have some reference points: Sorry to disappoint you folks, but here's the simple answer to the question I posed in this post : "The Philadelphia Flower Show - Where Is It Headed?" "Down The Tubes". . . Rather than just a snarky observation, let me be more specific: look at the first photo of Molie's photos in the reply just above. This was the MASSIVE structure that confronted you at the entrance: three giant picture frames ("ARTiculture", get it?) interspersed with GIANT mobiles (made of plant material, but not noticeably so) which were meant to resemble the work of Alexander Calder - who must have been thrashing in his grave. Given that there are so many of the REAL Calder sculptures and mobiles in the Philadelphia area, why the need for tacky imitations? It gets worse: the frames and mobiles are awash in ever-changing colored lights, (rather like a rock show) which renders the original colors of the mobiles pointless; every hour-on-the-hour, raucous music blares through the space (It was deafening, and you could not escape it) as four aerialists descend, suspended on cables from the rafters, and proceeded to twist and pose next to the mobiles - "living" mobiles, I guess? At most shows in the past that I've attended, people cluster around the entry exhibit and marvel at it . . . in this instance, most folks were moving away as quickly as possible. To be fair, some exhibitors really took the theme - ARTiculture - to heart, and there were a few, a VERY few, successful attempts at mirroring art through display; one of my favorite bulb purveyors, Jacques Armand, a 23-year veteran, captured Mondrian's style perfectly with crisp, single-colored squares and rectangles of flowering bulbs, laid out in a huge rectangle of grass. The huge farm-and-forest landscape by Stoney Bank Nurseries showed you living models of so many of the Wyeth family's paintings. . .it was mesmerizing, and wisely co-sponsered by the Brandywine Museum, where so many of their paintings reside, outside Philadelphia. But these were the exceptions: everywhere else it was flash-and-glam. . .I find it hard to believe that people will actually pay good money for some of garish, over-the-top stuff that so many of these "event planners" and fancy florists put out (they outnumbered the nursery exhibits for the first time ever!) The layout was a nightmare - gone were the cleverly designed pathways that guided you along from one aisle of displays to the next - now, it was a disorganized jumble. a logical path abruptly ends and you're forced left or right, or around a sudden obstacle. We found ourselves missing things and having to constantly back- track. Some of the competitive judging has been lifted out of it's longtime, logical home in the central Horticourt (where ALL the judged material used to reside) and scattered amongst the displays in the main hall. It took my friend and I a few hours to realize WHY all the disarray and confusion - they were trying to hide the fact that there was so much LESS there than usual. Our guess was about 25% fewer exhibitors than normal. . . and the other way they filled unused space: this year, for the first time, we had not one, not two, but THREE cars on the display floor! And the completely re-designed Market Place had so much more space. . . because they had expanded it onto the main floor so that it now fills nearly 50% of the entire show! And the long-sacred rule that only products relating to horticulture could be sold - GONE! - you could find all manner of gadgets, gizmos, cooking utensils, insurance, automobiles, alongside fewer than usual plant people and garden supplies. Our favorite seed shop, carrying a dozen of the best, and most unique seed companies - GONE, a piece of history. And the garden bookshop, a perennial favorite - gone, gone, gone. . . And where they subtly slipped in just two of them a couple of years ago, there are now 6 - SIX, count 'em - stand-up bars for beer and mixed drinks. To cap off my day, two friends arrived about 5:00pm to catch the last four hours of the show; they're a young couple, eager to see the show I've talked about so much over the years (and I'm helping them create the gardens at their new home) . . . we met up, I gave them a map of the show with a few exhibits circled which I hoped might give them ideas for their new garden, and my friend and I left them to it. My friend and I then went home 2½ hours EARLY, something we have NEVER done before! The next day, I had dinner with the young couple: they thought the show was a waste of time (Susie said she learned more and had more fun just going to nurseries with me!) and they would rather have spent the $54. admission, plus parking and the babysitter, on a good dinner out. . . I really didn't want to post this review, because it depresses me even in the re-telling. . .but, hey, things are what they are, and we just move on. If anyone's interested in books "about" the Philadelphia Flower Show in it's hey-day, I have a couple to recommend. Off to "SpringFest", the much smaller flower and garden show in northwestern New Jersey that I posted about last year. . .it, too, has been slowly changing, but it still has the "feel" of an indoor country fair, and the distinct advantage of being held in heated greenhouses. . .and we're supposed to get snow flurries the day we're going this week, which will make it seem TWICE as nice! Carl

I went to the show yesterday and enjoyed it very much. I would say that if you live within an easy drive, you might like to check it out. It has come a very long way from the last time I saw it--maybe 10 years ago? They have a nice number and quality of exhibitors. And especially if you live within an hour or so, it's a great chance to find designers and contractors. A good number of gorgeous forced specimens, tho I wish the labeling was better. It's no competition for Boston or Philly, but definitely a useful and fun show to visit for local folks.

I went on Friday, with my sister, my mom, and a friend who just wanted to get out of town for the weekend. We actually had a really good time. My sister has a great garden, and has decided to add some late winter flowers, so this worked out well; there were 4 or 5 different witch hazels in the displays - some were labeled and the rest were in gardens where there was someone who could give us an ID. Her favorite garden center, Atlock Farms, was there with some interesting mini irises and some very unusual houseplants, and there was a great selection of hellebores in the display gardens and for sale by several vendors. There were also some camellias, but we passed them up since they were all the early spring varieties and we're more interested in early winter types (because of bud hardiness issues we've read about here on the NE forum). Maybe the gardens weren't completely set up on the first day, or maybe we enjoyed it because we'd had a heads up from Carl and had very low expectations. To be frank, we also had slight hangovers - that may have helped! Anyway, I probably wouldn't miss the Boston show for this next year, but to be honest I liked it much more than the Philly show, which I've only gone to once. We were also planning to go to a behind the scenes tour at Wave Hill in Riverdale on Saturday, but it was canceled due to the weather. So instead of that, we walked a few miles on the HighLine garden downtown - always a treat, even in the snow!

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