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Spring Flower Shows
Boston Flower Show
This has been a relatively easy winter for me. No heavy snows requiring me to climb up on my roof to shovel off the flat part above a death-defying 30-foot drop. No temperatures lingering below zero for days on end. Still, it’s winter and I’m a gardener who is already thinking about spring. Thank heavens for the spring flower shows! Here is this year’s schedule. Mark your calendar and get ready to go.
One of my favorite flower shows is on the first weekend of the big shows: the Rhode Island Flower Show (www.flowershow.com) at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence on February 18-21. This year’s extravaganza is called “Spring Fling” and is being promoted as a treat for all your senses: things to see, smell, touch, taste and hear.
So there will be, in addition to the standard flower displays, cooks whipping up treats and teaching tricks, and bands playing Friday and Saturday from 4 to 7 pm. Friday’s band will do tunes from the 50’s and 60’s, while Saturday’s band, Hey 19, is a Steely Dan tribute band. Should be fun. The show sells drinks and has a small dance floor, too.
As with all shows, attending the lectures and slide shows at the Rhode Island Show are an important part of the show for me. Actually, I’ll be speaking both Friday at4pm and Saturday at noon. But I may go hear Roger Swain of Victory Garden fame, or some of the many other speakers. And I love all the displays – from professionals to rank amateurs.
Also on February 18 to 21 is the Connecticut Flower Show (www.ctflowershow.com) at the Convention Center in Hartford. Like the Rhode Island show, this show boasts plenty of flower displays, vendors and lectures. In fact, it boasts 4 lectures at a time (in different rooms) for 4 time slots on the four days! Want to learn how to grow plants for Monarch butterflies? Learn about ground covers or decorative grasses? Build a water garden? An expert will tell you all about it.
Two regular New England flower shows are not scheduled for 2016. The Vermont show, one of my favorites, is on a two-year cycle, and this is an off year. The Portland, Maine show is also not happening this year. They are moving the show out of the ancient warehouse it has been in to new quarters next year.
The biggest show of the east, in Philadelphia, will be held March 5 to 13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (www.theflowershow.com). The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has been holding this event since 1829, when Andrew Jackson was President! It covers about 6 city blocks and will be attended by over a quarter of a million people over a nine-day period. It’s not inexpensive: an adult ticket is $27, kids are $15. No special deals for elders. Still, if you love the flower shows, you should travel to it at least once.
Then comes the Boston Flower Show (www.bostonflowershow.com) March 17 to 20 at the Seaport World Trade Center. This in another big show that is worth seeing. Like the Philly show, don’t go on the weekend if you can avoid it. It starts on a Wednesday, and will be much less crowded then, and on Thursday.
Boston Flower Show
The Boston show has a remarkable number of vendors selling everything from teak furniture to garden tools, plants and pottery. The gardens created for viewing are always interesting, as are the individual entries of potted plants, flower arrangements and more. Tickets are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors. Travel companies often offer package deals including bus fare and admission – which might be nicer than driving in Boston traffic and paying for parking.
The Seacoast Home and Garden Show (http://seacoast.
The last flower show in New England is in Bangor, Maine, the BDN GardenShow (http://bdnmainegardenshow.
Actually, the last – and perhaps the best – of the shows takes place May 24 to 28in London: the iconic Chelsea Flower Show (https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-
The show is less commercial than ours, I gather, and is both indoors and out. The scope of the show is absolutely amazing – it even includes masses of vegetables. And the Queen goes every year, too! Another friend sent me a link to an hour BBC television special on the 2015 Chelsea Show, which got me even more excited about going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
So go to a show, even if you can’t make it to London.
Henry gardens in Cornish Flat, NH. Reach him by e-mail athenry.homeyer@comcast.net. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com. He is the author or 4 gardening books.
Spring Flower Shows
I’m not a big fan of the movies, but I remember a film from the 1960’s that opened with people trudging across a snow-swept plain somewhere in Russia wearing large fur hats and cumbersome boots. Doctor Zhivago, perhaps? Sometimes it seems that we’re all in that movie. If you’re finding winter dreary, you need to go to one of the many Spring Flower Shows – or maybe all of them.
The first flower show each year is the New Hampshire Orchid Society, this year on February 14-16. It is just orchids. Orchids of all kinds, and paraphernalia for orchid growers. Adults are $10, seniors $6, kids under 12 are free. It’s at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua. For info: www.nhorchids.org.
Rhode Island Flower Show
The first big shows are the weekend of February 20-23 with shows in Providence, RI and Hartford, CT. They are both excellent, and worth a visit. They’ll have flowering trees and luscious flowers, a multitude of vendors selling everything from bulbs and cut flowers to books and vases, and of course, educational lectures. The Providence Show has always been one of my favorites. (Full disclosure: I am lecturing Friday and Saturday at the Show in Providence).
This year the Providence Show is including vintage cars in the garden displays. I phoned Chuck Carberry, one of the show’s organizers, who told me that each major exhibit will include an antique or vintage car – from a Model A Ford in a Great Gatsby-themed garden to a ‘70’s Ferrari in an Italian grotto garden. Not only that, the show will feature an old time drive-in theater!
Rhode Island Flower SHow
Each year at Providence I love the sand sculpture – castles big enough for children or gnomes – and this year, given the car theme, they are going to have an old fashioned “woodie” made of sand. The sculptors work on their creations during much of the show, so you can see how they do what they do. The same is true of the designers of the various flower exhibits – they are there to answer questions, which is nice. For info go to: www.flowershow.com
The Hartford show is held at the Connecticut Convention Center, which is a great space for such a big show – handy to the interstate, plenty of parking. They pride themselves on their seminars – 12 per day, Friday to Sunday. The Federated Garden Clubs have a big space on the show floor, allowing individual exhibitors to show off their house plants, cactus and arrangements. Tickets are $16, and unlike most shows, they accept cash only! So fill your wallet before you go. Info: www.ctflowershow.com.
The Philadelphia Flower Show is March 1-9. It is the original flower show (having started in 1829) and certainly the biggest and most expensive. Daily tickets are $27 and they sell a VIP all access ticket for $125! But you have to attend at least once in your life. Go during the week when crowds are less, if you can. For info: http://theflowershow.com/ I love this show for its sheer size and diversity. And there are lots of exhibits by ordinary gardeners, which I like.
The Portland, Maine Flower Show is March 6-9 at the Portland Company Complex on Fore St, downtown. Tickets cost $13 in advance. Info: http://portlandcompany.com. This year’s theme is Storybook Gardens.
The Boston Flower Show is another extravaganza. This year, designers have been asked to. “create a small freestanding garden inspired by a scene of romance or seduction from a specific, named piece of literature, a movie or a popular song”. It’s being held March 12-16 at the Seaport World Trade Center. Tickets are $20 – and worth it! For info: www.bostonflowershow.com. Get there at opening time (10am during the week, 9am on the weekend) before the crowds get too big.
After Boston comes The Seacoast Home and Garden Show in Durham, NH on March 29-30. A nice small show with 220 vendors and a reasonable fee to get in – tickets are only $8. Info: www.NewEnglandExpos.com.
Flower Shows of New England
Before we launch into this week’s article…
Gardening Classes with Henry
Lebanon College: Gardening: A Practical Workshop. Garden writer Henry Homeyer will teach you the basics of organic vegetable and flower gardening. From garden design to seed-starting , planting, watering, weeding, mulching, and harvesting, this course will give each student practical knowledge of gardening. Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30 for 5 weeks, April 3-May 2.Contact Lebanon College to reserve a spot for this5-part workshop www.lebanoncollege.edu or call 603-448-2445.
AVA Gallery, Lebanon. Henry will teach 3 classes at AVA Gallery this spring. You may sign up for one or all of these workshops:
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Starting Flowers from Seed
April 9; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Perfect Perennials for the Upper Valley Garden
April 23; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Organic Techniques for Enriching Soil and Managing Pests
May 7; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
For more information go to www.avagallery.org or call 603-448-3117.
Each year I rejoice at the coming of the flower shows – they bring a taste of spring. By the time they arrive I‘m more than ready for blooming daffodils and tulips; I hunger for leafy trees and shrubs – even indoors. And I like their ambience: it’s like strolling down the midway at a country fair – but the products are different. Instead of trying to win a bear, I take a chance buying new and different bulbs or plants I can’t get in the ground for another 3 months. The hawkers, instead of selling temporary tattoos and Harley tee shirts, are selling garlic peeler/dicers and handy gadgets for cleaning floors.
The season starts February 11-12 with the New Hampshire Orchid Society’s annual show in Nashua, NH at the Radisson Hotel. Admission is $10, $6 for seniors. It’s a small specialty show, but nice. www.nhorchids.org.
Rhode Island Flower Show Sand Sculpture
The first big one, The Rhode Island Show, occurs February 23-26, and I can’t wait! I went last year for the first time and loved it. They have a wonderful line-up of speakers and educators showing slides and sharing wisdom. There is a real independent bookstore with hundreds of different titles of gardening books – I could stand there all afternoon, just thumbing through them. There are artists, craft producers and –get this – sand castles ten feet tall! (Someone brings in truckloads of sand and artists make a wonderland of castles with moats and gnomes and fairy princesses. It was fabulous last year, and will be there this year, too)
Last year the Rhode Island Show had competitions to see who could make the best sculpture using vegetables and fruit. There were garden hats decorated with flowers and –can you believe it? – women’s bathing suits made of leaves and flowers (displayed on mannequins, not gardeners!) There was beautiful stonework for inspiration, and lots and lots of plants – this year there will be 100,000 blossoms, I’m told. They are adding a food and wine section to the show in conjunction with Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts, among others. The show is at the Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence. Tickets $18-15. www.flowershow.com.
That weekend (February 24-26) is also the Connecticut Flower Show in Hartford. I went last year after leaving Providence and it was pretty crowded that Saturday – Saturdays anywhere are the busiest, and to be avoided if possible. It has over 300 booths and 80 workshops to attend over the course of the weekend. This year the theme is “Fabulous Fifties”. Tickets are $16. www.ctflowershow.com.
Next comes the Flower and Patio Show in Worcester, Massachusetts at the DCU Center March 2-4. I’ve never attended, but from what I’ve heard a major emphasis is on patios, outdoor furniture and the like. Tickets are $10. www.centralmaflowershow.com.
The Portland, Maine show is March 8-11 at the Portland Company Complex. Tickets are $15. www.portlandcompany.com.
If you don’t mind traveling, the Philadelphia Flower Show is March 4-11. Admission is $27, but the show is huge – and has gorgeous displays – it’s worth a visit if you can afford the trip. www.theflowershow.com.
Boston Flower Show Stone Sculpture
The Boston Flower Show is always a big event. It’s at the Seaport World Trade Center, March 14-18. I went last year and liked it despite the crowds. Admission is $20. Lots of displays, lots of garden paraphernalia for sale- plan a full day. This year’s theme is “First Impressions” – stressing the “Wow! Factor”. www.masshort.org.
New Hampshire has the Seacoast Home and Garden Show each year at the Whittemore Arena in Durham. This year the dates are March 24-25 and tickets cost $8. www.homegardenflowershow.com.
Bangor, ME has a show April 6-8 at Bangor Auditorium. Tickets are only $5. www.bangorgardenshow.com.
The Vermont show, always one of my favorites, is now held only every other year and is not happening this year.
Whimsy at the Vermont Flower Show
And for those of you with deep pockets, there is the Chelsea Flower Show in London, England May 22-26. Definitely on my list of places to go before I kick the bucket, I’ve never been, alas. It sounds incredible. www.rhs.org.uk/shows.
I try to go to at least 3 flower shows each year. There is something about the scent of flowers in winter that draws me in, and there is always much to learn at the lectures and demonstrations. Maybe I’ll see you at one.
Henry Homeyer’s web site is www.Gardening-guy.com. Go there to see photos of last year’s shows. His e-mail is henry.homeyer@comcast.net
Boston Flower Show
- Rhode Island Flower Show Fashion