Philadelphia Flower Show 2009 - III

 

Today I will show you a variety of succulents. I really like succulents. They are plants with specially adapted leaves to hoard water so that they can survive in dry climates. That makes us think of hot desserts, but many succulents grow in cold climates. I have a number that are winter hardy in my rock garden. Of course, in a flower show they can be mixed with no attention to what might really grow together.



The above picture is another of those porches in competition with each other. It was very different from the others, almost stark, with a planter full of succulents on each of the black pillars.


Succulents bloom like most other plants, and produce seeds. As you can see, the blossoms can be spectacular. They are usually propagated by simply breaking off parts of the plant rather than by planting the seeds. This is Kalanchoe delagoensis, sometimes called Chandelier Plant. It is native to Madagascar.


Here is Euphorbia lactea. It seems bizarre even for a succulent. It is native to Asia, particularly India. It actually comes in several colors. This one won a blue ribbon. One of the few advantages of living in a city like Philadelphia is that there is enough interest to support an entire organization of cactus and succulent lovers.



I took a pile of pictures of these kinds of plants. I'll just show one more today. This is a planter of a mixture of succulents. You can see that it only won a yellow ribbon, but I liked it a whole lot. You may think that I'm cheating on the premise of this blog to be sharing things from several days ago, but I have to honestly say that I'm still being carried along on the strength of the experiences at the flower show.

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Philadelphia Flower Show 2009 - II

 
I'm home! Really tired, but will do a post before I crash. Today I'll tell you about some of the more unusual displays. First is an entry in the Ikebana contest. Ikebana is a Japanese flower arranging style that is very disciplined. This one didn't really seem to me to fit the form, but it certainly is unusual!



There were a number of categories devoted to fashion- remember "Belle Italia!" I didn't take any pictures in some of the groups because I wasn't sure how my batteries would last. Now I wish I had taken at least one in each group to show you. There were shoes decorated with plant material. There was a long display case of jewelry made from plant material- I heard people who like jewelry saying that there were really nice pieces there, whereas the shoes were more whimsical. There were hats, that might conceivably be worn- most very stylish! There were dresses too, and they were certainly not something people would actually wear, they were just art. Here are two examples.



I liked the display where the next picture was taken. It was "Under the Sea." There were posters with mermaid or merman legends from around the world. These creatures were recreated with plant material. It was all lit in shimmering blue with a blue ceiling and floor, and decorated with shells, seaweed, etc so it all seemed to be underwater. The picture is of a sea-horse. Notice its tail instead of back legs!



Finally for today I'll show you a construction- again made from plant material. I never did figure out if these were some particular class of entries in the competition, but I liked this one, so that is its claim to fame.

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Can't Post Today

Sorry- I'm still traveling and I can't get on line from my computer to move pictures around, so I'll have to wait till I get home to continue this, probably not till Friday. Apologies to you all... everything is fine, but where I am till tomorrow I'm limited. Back on the road again tomorrow and then back on line for me.

Philadelphia Flower Show 2009-I

Here we go! The flower show was really wonderful. I promised you overload on green things, and I plan to deliver for the next few days. The theme of this year's show was Bella Italia, and the entranceway was decorated in classic formal Italian garden fashion.



But things did not remain all formal. They ranged through traditional spring gardens, casual, bizarre, themed, and all of the judged horticultural show kinds of things. Today I'll just show a few traditional things. Next up is from a series of judged displays on the theme of outdoor eating places. The colors grabbed my eye on this one. It's interesting to read what the judges say about their choices for the ribbons. We don't always agree with them! I don't remember if this one won its class, but I like it.



There were plenty of displays of spring gardens filled with blooms for those of us who just need a good garden fix in these late days of winter. And the East Coast got snow dumped on it today too. Philly got a few inches, enough to close school, so we had the girls with us all day. But they were very good. We took turns keeping track of them, and there was a family play area where their Dad took them for a couple of hours too, so everyone had a great time smelling the roses. Literally!



I will end today's pictures with another of the themed contest entries. This one was for a front porch. There was a row of six lovely porches and small front yards all decorated with plants. Each one was very different. This actually wasn't my favorite (really, who could choose an absolute favorite?) but the picture came out well, so I'll show this one.



I hope you like these. It's fun to share it all with you. Tomorrow I'll show you some of the more unusual horticultural displays.

Please Touch Museum

Today was mostly about the girls again. I went to church twice this morning. Once early with Marie, and then we both went to her son's church after that. The pastor did a nice show and tell time with the kids afterwards, burning last year's palm fronds and grinding the ashes to show how they are made for Ash Wednesday.



After lunch we headed for the Please Touch Museum at Fairmont Park, in a former World's Fair building. It's just wonderful for kids, and we took lots of pictures, but I'll just show a couple that don't make the girls too recognizable since they are not mine.



There were all kinds of play spaces that were all tied to learning something. Here are A and M in the hall of mirrors. There was a place to tinker with vehicles, a water feature with toy boats, a place to build foam aircraft and see if they would fly, a room with kid-powered machines, a jungle room to make music, a big carousel, and more.



This picture is for my friend Ratty at The Everyday Adventurer. One whole section of the museum is based on Alice in Wonderland. He sometimes takes Alice on his adventures. Since this has always been one of my favorite stories, I couldn't help but think of him as we passed the Cheshire Cat, painted the rose bushes, or played croquet with a flamingo and hedgehog.

The day ended with fancy big-city pizzas (meaning unusual toppings and various cheeses- not just a ton of pepperoni and mozarella), and bedtime for two very tired little girls.



I will end with a picture for the grownups. These are some of the statues associated with the Please Touch Museum. It is simply a gorgeous building in its own right that had been empty for several years. It's great to see it put to such a wonderful new use.