With its Hawaiian theme, this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show did succeed in transporting me, if not to paradise, at least into my imagination for a few hours of fantasy. It did immersed me, perhaps a bit Disney-style, into the sights, sounds,and scents of the islands. There were, as you might guess, specimen orchids everywhere. Upon entering, visitors were subsumed by a giant virtual water wave of light and sound that flowed over a bank of anthuriums and orchids. I wished I’d had a device that could capture the fragrances in the air, then post them to some sort of Pinterest of scents…like Scenterest? You’ll have to imagine how lovely the air was scented with the thousands of tropical flowers.

Outdoor Dining, Living, and Bedrooms

You don’t need to be in a tropical paradise to set up an intimate low dining table and pillows–makes the space seem a bit larger.

A small corner spot with a comfy chair is all one needs to kick back and relax.

Low cushion clad platforms like these can turn from lounging into sleeping areas after a few too many glasses.

Repurposing two surfboards into a bench was de rigueur for this Hawaiian themed show.

Vertical Veggies
Edibles featured nicely throughout the show–including the world’s largest lettuce wall, above, designed by gardening author, Amy Goldman. The 9-foot high, 40-foot long wall contained over six varieties of lettuce totaling 3000 leafy heads.

Demonstrating that there are many ways to grow food, from an overhead trellis, below, varieties of cherry tomatoes planted upside down formed a walk through pergola dividing two parts of a traditional in ground vegetable garden.

City Harvest, who will benefit from proceeds from the show, had one the most creative display gardens where they displayed jars of preserved vegetables against a backdrop of the same items growing in the garden.

Clever idea: Drill some holes into galvanized French flowerpots to turn them into hanging pendant lamps.

In Philadelphia, the City Harvest program assists in making locally grown foods available to the city’s food deserts, furthering the message that gardens are a vital source of nutritious foods.

Reclaimed, Upcycled, and Replanted…

Love these pots sitting on shelves cantilevered onto the reclaimed wood siding.

Plastic cable ties attach small glass vases filled with Birds of Paradise to a wire grid wall.

A rainbow of stripes transform this Adirondack chair in the Camden Children’s Garden display.

Nice way to step up with these hexagonal faux stones.

Stay tuned for more from the Philadelphia and Northwest Flower and Garden Shows!