The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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I drove into the City of Brotherly Love last evening for my annual sojourn to the Philadelphia Flower Show. This is the trip that unofficially kicks off the gardening season for me (never mind the fact that we are due for a major snowstorm over the next few days) and the scent alone upon entering the showroom floor is enough to put me into a plant frenzy.
The theme for this year’s show is Great Britain and I’ll agree with the official logo of the show; it was damn “Brilliant”. The centerpiece of it all is a giant replica of good ol “Big Ben” that was bloody brilliant (imagine a British accent for full effect):           

Of course, it didn’t take me long to take my eyes off of Ben and focus on what I really came for … the plants/flowers. It all started with what was planted at the base of Big Ben:

I thought about jumping into the roses head first and just lounging out there for a few hours but that probably would have been frowned upon by all of the other onlookers, so I remained calm and moved on.

At last count, I took over 267 photos and it has taken some time to sort through them all. The challenge, as always, is to take the photos without any of those damn “people” in them. I have found it is a lot easier to go later in the evening when the crowds are much smaller. I have also found it helps to be 6 foot 4 inches tall, so I’ve got that going for me.

I don’t want to put you all in sensory overload, so I will be breaking up my FlowerShow pics over the course of 2, maybe 3 days. For today, I’ll share my photos of the various exhibits/displays and tomorrow, I’ll focus solely on the plants. You good with that? Brilliant.

Here we go:         

And before I leave you, I wanted to share with you the song montage that plays at the top of each hour on the Big Ben video screen. The highlight for me has to be the quick Adam Ant tune; he was a staple for me as I grew up watching MTV in the early 80’s. Enjoy:

Until tomorrow … 

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9 Responses

  1. Thank you for sharing these great pictures of the Philly Flower Show! What kind of camera do you use?

  3. My niece and I went to the Connecticut Flower Show in Hartford and it was wonderful! However, from these pics I think the Philadelphia Flower Show was even better! There still is a weekend left! We had so much fun at the Connecticut show. So much to see and the ideas were amazing. Can’t wait for Spring. What did you buy? Linda

  4. Good stuff! Philly and San Francisco are two I’d like to go to some day. I go every year to the Seattle one, and take lots of photos and post a lot, so I can understand you needing to divvy it up. I really love that one shot of the little wooden shack with the metal roof, with the pond in front surrounded by ferns. Thanks for posting, looking forward to more.

  5. Sounds like you enjoyed the show! How lucky you are to live so close! I enjoyed your images and look forward to seeing more of the show through your lens!

  7. Your post is an amazing opportunity for me as a Midwestern gardener to get to visit one of the premier flower shows of the world. I really enjoyed this opportunity. Thanks much, Larry

  8. Those photos are Beyond Lovely!

    Haha on the ‘brilliant’. The english have an obsession with intelligence. They judge everything by its IQ. A sunny day is ‘brilliant’. A foggy one is ‘not so brilliant’. Whenever I visit the UK I feel the urge to tear that word out of the dictionary. God!

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