Gardens of the Future

 The theme of this year's Philadelphia Flower Show is Gardens of the Future. The entry exhibit is called Signature of Time. The "future" idea is supposed to be that when someone creates a garden they impart it with their own signature, but as it grows into the future it acquires the signature of time. I have no idea how these elements of the display showcase that. But, hey, the entry exhibit is supposed to be the "Wow" of the show. It did that pretty well.

This huge hanging part of the display is all flowers. Almost everything has to be flowers or flower parts except for structural elements.

There were colors other than red in the display, and some lighting effects, but I'm focusing today on the red which was the most prominant.

There were two large and novel fountains with water running down from the frames over containers of flowers. This one is more magenta with orchids.

And this one has red roses. It's hard to see the running water in the pictures because it's subtle like a soft rain, but you can see the splashes in the pond.

This is just another part of the entry display (it is always huge) that emphasises red.

Sometimes I think that the more interesting the theme is, the more trouble the exhibitors have in being creative with it. But you'll see more of what I mean in days to come.

My stamina lasted for five hours. I didn't see nearly as much of the show as I usually do because I definitely wasn't moving as fast. Others were also ready to leave after that time, so I didn't cause anyone else any distress, and a nap revived me. I'm really happy that I managed 5 hours. That's certainly the longest continual activity I've done since being sick.

We came back and had pizza and played some games. I like this one, Forbidden Island, which only gets played when I'm here, apparently. It's a collaborative game, not competitive. You have to work together to place the statues in the correct places and then get off the island before it sinks. Tonight we lost, but that's OK. Fun was had.

Now it's time for another nap!

See The Garden Electric

Rittenhouse Square

 Today we all walked to Rittenhouse Square. The Square is a city park- one of the original ones planned by William Penn. This is one entrance.

On the way there, we toured a lot of the typical Philadelphia streets. More on that another day. However, I will show you Delancey Place because it is one of the fanciest of the sections planned by Penn.

The townhouse with the rounded front (kind of behind the tree) is for sale at $4.25 million. We are standing in front of another that was having an open house, so we went in to look around. Its price is only $3 million. These all have four floors and a finished basement with a garage off the alley which is actually wide enough to drive. (The alley behind Dave's house is only wide enough to walk.) The house we toured was built in 1800. No matter how fancy they are, you've got five floors to navigate with stairs.

I actually learned a lot from the realtor. The reason the fancy streets have very narrow streets with small townhouses flanking them was part of the design. Tradespeople like blacksmiths and seamstresses lived and worked in the small houses. This created a neighborhood of services for the upper-class homes.

I didn't do a very good job of getting pictures that really show you the park. There is a lot of green space, and today was in the 60s. Despite a little breeze there were a LOT of people picnicking, walking, and enjoying themselves. There were several street musicians.

There was a vendor event going on around the edges. Mostly farmer's market kinds of booths with fresh vegetables, cider, honey, donuts, apples, etc.

This statue of two children and a sunflower...

...is only labeled as a tribute to Evelyn Taylor Price. But the sunflower is a sundial.

This statue is also very interesting. It is dated 1832, but I don't know if it's supposed to be symbolic of something, with the lion crushing the snake.

I think we walked about 3 miles because there was some wandering around in addition to just a straight walk there and back. We ate quantities of food, played more games, and tomorrow will be the Flower Show!

Miles hiked in 2025: 25.3

See Philadelphia Riverwalk Again