Philadelphia Flower Show - Immersed

I'm going to spend the time tonight to show you my other favorite display from the Philadelphia Flower Show. The name of the exhibit was "Immersed," and it was created by the American Institute of Floral Designers. The amount of plant material involved and the design components were astonishing. Each color display was created by a different member florist of the institute, so it's like ten exhibitors in one. The results were... you will see.

The introduction says things like, "lose yourself in color," "feel, think, and react," "immerse yourself in the color, the flow, and the design."

The exhibit was a walk-through color wheel. Each color had its own interpretive panel as well. I'll include a little bit of what was on those signs.

Around the top border of the entire traffic loop was a fringe of black and white. "Black: the color of power and sophistication. Black is strong and intimidating. White: the color of purity and innocence. White is a true balance of all colors."

Brown- I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this one from the other side, but it was intricate and interesting. I think this overview picture doesn't show the details very well. "Brown: the color of stability and reliability. Brown is dependable and comforting." The strings of "lobster-claw" seed pods are as interesting as the flowers themselves, and if you study this display there's a lot of design in it- it's not just a bunch of dead stuff stuck into a base.

Red- Red is one of my least favorite colors, but I have to say that I took more pictures of the red display than any other color. I will probably eventually share another part of it on the blog, but I'll stick with one photo for now. There was a lot of textural interest, and they must have hunted to find the various red plants that matched each other in tone so well (unless they dyed some of it). Of course there are roses, and those long strings are an Amaranth, Amaranthus caudatus, usually called "love lies bleeding."

"Red: the color of passion and energy. Red draws attention like no other color."

Pink. Probably my least favorite color in the whole world, but the display was gorgeous. "Pink: the color of love and compassion. Pink is kind and comforting." Well, I know that's how it makes a lot of people feel. Pink just makes me nervous.

Orange is a somewhat unusual color in flowers. I thought it was interesting that they went with a sort of safety industrial theme with it. Also, there are a number of orange flowers that are deeper toned than the ones they used. "Orange: the color of enthusiasm and emotion. Orange exudes warmth and joy."

Yellow is up near the top of my favorite colors. I liked how different this display was- atomic and jumping with energy. "Yellow: the color of happiness and optimism. Yellow is cheerful and energetic." The primary plant featured is Craspedia, an Australian plant commonly called "billy-buttons." Just think about the amount of intercontinental and transcontinental commerce that goes into collecting all the plant material for this show. I had to make a composite picture to get this entire display in one frame, so that's why the side images aren't registered quite right.

"Green: the color of harmony and health. Green is a generous, relaxing color." This display relies a lot on variations in shades of green and a great range of textures. It almost looks like a single plant until you start looking more closely.

Although blue is my favorite color, this display was my least favorite in the exhibit. That's mostly because of the difficulty with blue flowers that I blogged about on a different day. Most of the blue color in this comes from blue lighting. Nevertheless, "Blue: the color of trust and loyalty. Blue has a calming and relaxing effect on our psyche." The primary plant is baby's breath.

I'm not sure why they stuck turquoise in there, but it was a nice display, primarily of Protea. However, I'm pretty sure all the plant material is dyed. "Turquoise: the color of calmness and clarity. Turquoise stabilizes emotions and increases empathy." I'm also not sure about that description, but... somebody probably said those things, sometime. They also referred to the waters of the Caribbean, although Proteus comes from Hawaii and I doubt anything else there is Caribbean. Now I'm just being nit-picky.

And finally, purple, although not a deep purple. Marie liked this one a lot. "Purple: the color of spirituality and imagination. Purple inspires us to divulge our innermost thoughts." (really?) Anyway, the contrast of the constructed towers with the languid drapes of orchids was interesting.

And one more picture, this one from today. I got in the mood to have pancakes. Let me say that I never order pancakes in a restaurant. Apparently my definition is different from most of the rest of the food world. I like mine thin, not all fluffy and bready. This is my mom's recipe, from an old cookbook. She and our family have been cooking and eating these for probably 90 years. I believe the cookbook was one of her texts at Temple where she studied Home Economics. They were served with maple syrup, a gift from Julie Dahlberg while on my hike.

Speaking of the hike, tomorrow night is the last one I'll be home for a while again. I have really mixed feelings. 450 miles feels like nothing at all to face. On the other hand, a big piece of me wants to stay home and continue on the many projects I'm in the middle of. I'm still uncertain about the 105 miles in the western UP. It's under 30+ inches of snow right now. I may have to wait till June to hike that. I DON'T want to still be working on this hike that late, but I may have no choice. Lots of my body parts still hurt. I don't think I can immediately jump to 15 miles a day.

I kept my promise to myself to read all I want. I've read 70 books since January 1 (a lot of them fiction and fast, but still...). But I'm not tired of non-stop reading. I will be able to read some in the evenings, but not up to that level!

There are still lots of neat things from the Flower Show. You may see one more post tomorrow, but then I'll again focus on where I'm hiking. Maybe I'll share a few things in the future, maybe not. That's why I wanted to be sure to do this major post tonight.

See PFS- Sweatpants Not Included