The Philadelphia Flower Show season was
officially inaugurated this morning with cornbread, gumbo
and piles of Mardi Gras beads at Warmdaddy's, the blues
and jazz club on South Columbus Boulevard.
"Jazz It Up," the music and gardens of New Orleans,
is the theme for this year's show, which runs from March
2 to 9 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 11th and Arch
Streets.
Jane G. Pepper, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural
Society, which puts on the show, urged the small gathering
to add "a touch of New Orleans" to their gardens
this year by incorporating new ideas from "Jazz it
Up." She also encouraged everyone to travel to the
city, as she did recently for a wedding.
"That way we in Philadelphia can really help the people
in New Orleans," Pepper said, referring to the devastation
caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Exhibits at the Flower Show will feature thousands of tropical
plants, such as bromeliads, magnolias and palms, filling
the lush courtyard and balcony gardens of a recreated Crescent
City. And there'll be music from the likes of Big Sam's
Funky Nation and the Hoppin' John Orchestra, with traditional
New Orleans-style "second-line parades" winding
their way through the crowd to the Bourbon Street Stage.
The show's central feature, which introduces visitors to
the theme, will be a large archway of floating piano keys,
musical notes and waterfall created by show designer Sam
Lemheney with Lamsback Floral Decorators of Center City.
Of those working on this year's show, Lemheney said this
morning, "The energy level is out of control."
There also will be a series of "rhythm rooms"
in a fanciful jazz club, each containing vignettes inspired
by the geometric shapes and vibrant colors of modern art.
The week-long Flower Show typically draws about 250,000
visitors and is the horticultural society's biggest fundraiser,
bringing in $1 million for Philadelphia Green, its urban
gardening program. The show, with PNC Bank as its lead sponsor,
pumps an estimated $30 million into the local economy, according
to the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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