Philadelphia Flower Show 2019 - Purple

 
Purple is a sneaky color. It slips off into blue on one end, and magenta/pink on the other. At least one of these flowers looks definitely pink by comparison, but taken on it's own, seems more fuchsia/magenta to me. Anyway... there are a lot of flowers in this span of purpleish at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show

These miniature iris, mixed with hyacinth sure look like spring, whether you see them as blue or purple.



These dainty little flowers are on a Pelargonium sidoides, basically a geranium, just a different genus in the same family. Very deep purple.



This luscious thing took a blue ribbon. It's a Loropetalum chinense, or a Chinese Fringe Tree.



Don't forget Gynura aurantiaca, the Purple Passion or Velvet plant. It's a pretty common houseplant, and those velvety purple leaves are why. I've killed a couple- it really doesn't like having its soil get dry.



Here's another true purple, Angelonia, sometimes called summer snapdragon, not to be confused with the annual snapdragons. This one is 'Balarchpur' Archangel Purple.



Now for another dark, dark purple and exotic. This is an orchid, Prosthechea cochleata. It's the national flower of Belize, where it is known as the black orchid.



Now, we'll come back to "is it purple or is it pink?" Behind the delphiniums it sure looks pink. At any rate, it's a beautiful Azalea, which is much easier to grow.



And finally, I'll take you back for another orchid, but the focus on the picture of its label is so bad I can't read it at all. I can only tell you it's gorgeous and won a blue ribbon.


This ends the Flower Show color wheel. But as long as nothing else is exciting to see, I'll show you a few more things. I never get tired of looking at interesting plants.

In other news: I did some writing, and some sorting and odds and ends, and took a 4-mile walk. So much for today.

	See Blue
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2019- Blue

 
It's really difficult to find flowers that are true blue. They tend to wander off toward purple. But I think these displays capture blue blue.

The color you place with blue makes a big difference in its perception. Here is a pale blue grape hyacinth with white tulips. Since I think blue and white together is close to perfection, you can be quite certain I liked this. (Possibly Muscari botryoides)



Here, the blue stands out because its been paired with real purple. This is another of the displays based on color like the green one shown yesterday. Blue is for "Genesis... Awakening... Arise..." Larkspur are the blue here.



Next up is a kind of goofy display. I liked it, but an awful lot of people didn't. This was part of the same display as the orange from a few days ago with neon tubes. The point of the displays was how people interacted with plants. The stacks of painted paper plates look to me sort of like ancient crinoid stems (fossil plants). Blue and purple are mixed. There are various blue/purple flowers tucked in beside the stacks.

If you are thinking of a classic garden and say "blue," someone is sure to answer "delphinium." And sure enough, we have some.



I'm pretty sure this is Corydalis flexuosa, blue fumitory. I couldn't find a label. And the picture is not in focus. Bummer on so many levels! It is a beautiful pale blue and delicate, perhaps the variety 'China blue.'



Finally, this Anemone coronaria 'Mister Fokker' won a red ribbon in its class.



I hope you are enjoying the colors. It's still gray and brown here.

In other news: I did laundry and hung the clothes outside today. They did get dry even though it was cold. Love that fresh outdoor scent. I worked on North Country Quest in the morning, and then wrote something for North Star in the afternoon. Took a 3 mile walk. That pretty much does in the day.

	See Green
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2019 - Green

 
You might think that at something like the Philadelphia Flower Show, entirely dedicated to plants, that green would be too obvious. But there are many shades of green. It was hard, but I picked just a few to showcase today.

The darling of the 2019 show was a new variety of Hellebore, the Lenten Rose, that has a greenish white flower. It's nestled here with some small hybrid roses with dark green foliage, dusty miller, foamflower, and a maroon Heuchera.



I liked this selection of greens not only for the various shades, but the shapes. It's part of the World Cup exhibit by the UK.



Next up is a startling yellow-green fern. Not only the color is startling. This is a Boston Fern, Nephrolepis exaltata. But it's a finely cut cultivar called 'Suzi Wong.' Weird!



For varieties of green it was hard to been this topiary turtle with so many succulents. I really liked this one. It only took second place in the topiaries, probably because the winner was a classic one with ivy over a frame that was exquisitely done, with no bare spots. But, I still like the turtle.



This next bouquet comes from a commercial florist exhibit that had one display for each color with motivational words. For green they chose things like Accomplishment, Victory, Climbing the Mountain, Glory, etc.



Green can be so many things. This succulent won a ribbon in its class. It's a cross between a Gastera and an Aloe, called, duh, Gasteraloe. This variety is 'Green Ice.' I like it!



For a parting shot, we'll go to dark green and fuzzy. This is a Petrocosmea rosettifolia, and this specimen won a blue ribbon. I had to look this up to find out more about it. It's a relative of the African Violet, but comes from China. When it blooms, it has beautiful asymmetrical flowers on stems that grow up from the rosette. But I would consider even the leaves very attractive.



It was hard to pick just a few, but you'll see more beautiful variations on green in some other categories I hope to share. It's still cold and gloomy here. Very windy today.

In other news: I finished taking notes from the tape I've been working on this morning, and cleaned up the living room in the afternoon. Just for a moment I had a strong urge to clear and clean my office. But it was not irresistible. Too bad... I'd really like my office to be clean, but it's never yet offered to do it by itself.

	See Yellow
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2019 - Yellow

 
Yellow is one of my two favorite colors, and I sure enjoyed the sunny displays at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show.

This is one part of a huge commercial exhibit by Flowers by David. Not so much in this particular arrangement, but they combined the yellow with salmon pink, which sounds awful to me, but it really looked beautiful together.



Back to the World Cup exhibits. This is just part of one of the arrangements by Russia, but I like how light and airy it looks- like sunshine.



Pocket Gardens was another category of competitions in the Standard Flower Show. They were supposed to be on the theme of healing herbs. This one tied for the blue ribbon. It's called "Celestial Garden of Healing." The judges used words like "clever... detail... unusual herbs."



Here's another piece from the Czech World Cup entry. I like how natural it looks. I can imagine a trellis at the end of a porch.



Back to the pocket gardens, with the other first place entry. This one was my favorite pocket garden. I liked how everything tied together. It's called "Cascading Sunlight." Judges used words like "exuberant... exciting... powerful."

Today, I'll bring you an orchid. Can you believe I'm not so crazy about orchids? They get so much attention from the whole world... maybe I just like the underdogs because they get less recognition. But this one sure is yellow! It's a Cattlianthe Blazing Sun.



Here, it was gray all day, but just a bit ago, that yellow ball in the sky showed up. I didn't walk at all again today. A friend called and wanted to go to lunch so I did that and some errands. Worked on tape notes this morning, and stuff for the North Star magazine after I got home.

The new motor on the furnace pump is really noisy. Bummer. Debating whether to complain about it. For what it cost one might expect it to be quieter.

	See Orange
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Philadelphia Flower Show 2019 - Orange

 
Let's just go through the colors at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. Next up is orange.

I'll start with an interesting cactus in bloom. It's a Parodia, a genus of cactus native to South America. (Doesn't seem to fit that genus to me, but I'm no cactus expert.)



This is the winner in one of the miniature contests, the theme of which was "Light My Fire." Plant materials are a Ginger blossom, and Curly Ting-ting, a dried grass.



Next up is one of the displays from a commercial exhibit called Happy Together. It's supposed to explore relationships between plants and people. It had one section for each color with neon tubes. I'm not sure I understand this one but it sure is orange.



Tulips are always wonderful to see in early spring. They never disappoint.



And I love the variety and colors of Begonias. You may see a whole day of them.



Can't let you go without one more kind of tulip.



Finally, this is from the World Cup exhibit by Korea.



The furnace is fixed. Can't say I mind. It didn't get below 58 in the house, but it's nice to have indoor spaces be indoorsy. I finished the book I needed to read, and wrote in the morning. Didn't accomplish much else. The forecast was rain, so I didn't walk. Should have... no rain.

	See Red or Bright Pink
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