The Philadelphia Flower Show

Back in Philly in time to go to the last Saturday of the flower show. I think this year's theme was "Island retreat" or something like that; the first eight islands were all done by some orchid people from NJ. Quite fanciful, even without the orchids. (I didn't take many more orchid pictures-- if you want to see orchids, look here.)

Other exhibits ranged from the fanciful: (there were fake birds nesting on this cake...)

To the elegant:

To the artistic, in various incarnations:

And my favorite: This was all desert plants, put together to form an undersea-scape. Suspended above the exhibit was a little row boat, with blue & white lights shining on the bottom to make it look like it was floating on the water's surface. Very impressive.

Aside from the large exhibits, there were also lots of smaller things; everything from flower arrangements to dish gardens and window boxes. This is one of three very similar carnivorous plant terrariums entered by the same person; two of the three won prizes.

Second prize in free-form topiary. The first prize was for a much more boring crane-like bird.

There were lots of categories of framed art made from pressed flower petals. Everything from displays of the plants the greenery was taken from to various styles of picture, and finally (which confused me) decorative quilt blocks.

There were an impressive array of miniature dish gardens, all very cute and doll-house-like.

This plant won a prize for looking like a rock.

In this location Carmen Sandiego would probably steal: the cake