Phila. Flower Show to bloom in reel time

Posted by Press Release on February 23, 2015

The 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show promises to dazzle visitors with its silver screen theme.

The silver screen will burst into living color at the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s (PHS) 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show, “Celebrate the Movies,” from Feb. 28 to March 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, according to a PHS press release.

An artist's rendering captures the Hollywood feel of the 2015 Philadelphia Flower Show Entrance.

Honored with the 2014 Grand Pinnacle Gold award as the world’s top event by the International Festivals & Events Association, the Flower Show will reach new heights in 2015. Every guest will feel like a star on the red carpet as floral and garden designers use Disney and Disney•Pixar films as inspiration for their exhibits.

Guests will experience the magic as they walk through floral displays highlighting their favorite movies, from “Cars” to “Frozen” and “Maleficent” to the new live-action film “Cinderella.” Visitors will also enjoy a “reel to real” experience as each of the major displays demonstrate how guests can take movie-inspired ideas from the show and use smart-gardening tips in their own homes and garden.

The Flower Show Entrance Garden will create the dazzling excitement of a movie premiere. Guests will enter through an Art Deco theater facade topped with a marquee of flowers and lights in blazing neon colors. The garden will recall the fantastic interiors of the 1920s movie palaces, with columns of juniper and palm trees; grand chandeliers dripping with blossoms, moss, jewels and fabrics; sweeps of bright green hostas; hundreds of elegant calla lilies; and a centerpiece made of thousands of roses “named” for movie superstars.

The entrance garden will also feature a 36-by-16-foot screen that will show the winning entries in the Flower Show short-film competition, “What Is Beauty?” PHS, in partnership with the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, asked professional and student filmmakers to submit their visions of beauty in 3- to 5-minute clips.

Creative floral combinations are a hallmark of the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Down a central aisle on the show floor will be the “Horticultural Walk of Fame,” modeled after the tributes along Hollywood Boulevard but featuring the historic milestones and celebrities of the gardening world.

The international cast at the 2015 Flower Show will include landscape designers Jim Fogarty of Australia, Leon Kluge of South Africa, Paul Hervey-Brookes of the United Kingdom, and Lim In Chong of Malaysia, all appearing for the first time in the U.S. This region’s renowned designers, including Joe Palimeno and Michael Petrie, who have been honored at competitions around the world, will also star at the Flower Show. Petrie is known to area residents for his award-winning work at the former Styer’s nursery in Concord Township.

In 2015, the show will adopt the award system used by judging committees around the globe, including competitions in Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and the Royal Horticultural Society shows in the U.K. Now, as in those countries, the major exhibitors will compete for gold, silver and bronze in the “Olympics of horticulture” in Philadelphia.

The Flower Show’s popular “studios” will return in 2015, with real-time floral contests at the Designer’s Studio; the hottest horticultural trends and techniques at the Gardener’s Studio; and culinary stars on stage at the Garden to Table Studio. Other attractions will include the Butterfly Experience, a display doubled in size from last year, where visitors get up close with rare species of fluttering pollinators, and the Make & Take Room, the hands-on opportunity to create a piece of the Flower Show that guests can take home.

Dining at the show will include themed restaurants that transport guests to the Land of Oz, the Old West, and the malt shop. DiBruno Brothers’ gourmet offerings will have a “Godfather” movie flavor, and Termini Brothers’ Bakery will offer a nostalgic 1950s atmosphere. Fine Wine & Good Spirits will return with free tastings and a shop to purchase new discoveries.

Flower Show organizers say the theme will produce vital displays bursting with color. — Flower Show organizers say this year's "Celebrate the Movies" theme will produce vivid displays bursting with color.

Among the special guests at the 2015 Flower Show will be film and television star Dan Aykroyd, who will sign bottles of his additive-free Crystal Head Vodka on March 6. Ethan Wayne, son of John Wayne, will sign bottles of Duke Bourbon on Feb. 28 and present a display of memorabilia of the Academy Award-winning actor.

The Flower Show after dark will include special theme nights, including the LGBT Party, Wedding Wednesday (with an encore of the Greatest Groom Contest), Girls’ Night Out, and the new Fido Friday – all wonderful ways to experience the Flower Show and the special events that run all week long.

Tickets for the 2015 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show are now available online at www.theflowershow.com. Proceeds from the Flower Show benefit the year-round programs of PHS, which include Plant One Million, a tri-state, 13-county campaign aimed at planting one million trees in the region by 2020.