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Flower Show’s tightrope: Keeping the old guard, attracting new patrons

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Talk to 10 people who’ve been to Philadelphia Flower Shows past and you’ll get 10 different opinions.

You like those edgy videos? Other folks hate ’em. Chasing blue ribbons for your pampered succulents? Plant competitions bore the next guy silly.

Sometimes, it seems, the Flower Show – the nation’s oldest, founded in 1829 – has an impossible mission. Like other legacy institutions, it must find a way to retain its core audience – mostly white, middle-aged, and suburban – while also attracting a younger, more diverse population to carry it into the future.

“This is a living, breathing show that needs to perpetuate change. It’s like a movie. You can’t have the same plot. No one would go see it,” says Drew Becher, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which launches the 2014 Flower Show on March 1 through 9 at the Convention Center.

For the first time since 2006, the theme has nothing to do with places like New Orleans or Ireland. The 2014 show promises to be more cerebral: “ARTiculture, where art meets horticulture.”

In an unusual arrangement, the show’s landscape and floral designers have been paired with Philadelphia-area museums, along with the Getty in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim in New York City, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Using plants, trees, sculptures, and other elements, exhibitors are interpreting a particular painting, a body of work, an entire artistic movement. Even, in one case, a museum’s outdoor garden.

Designer Michael Petrie of Swarthmore, for example, draws on the Barnes’ post-impressionist paintings, especially those by Henri Matisse. Stoney Bank Nurseries of Glen Mills, working with the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, channels three generations of Wyeths. And Wyndmoor’s Burke Bros. interprets not a work of art per se, but the cacti garden, lavender pergola, water features, and travertine building materials in the Getty Museum’s landscape.

“It’s almost like a cubist painting, everything rectilinear, plants arranged in blocks of vibrant colors,” Kevin Burke says of his creation.

PHS’ largest fund-raiser, the Flower Show costs up to $10 million to produce and typically generates about $1 million for the nonprofit’s public landscape, urban farming, tree-planting, and horticulture programs.

And while every show generates excitement, there’s a sense that PHS needs to mount a robust counterpoint to the 2013 show, which failed to match the popularity of “Hawaii: Islands of Aloha” in 2012 (270,000) and “Springtime in Paris” in 2011 (265,000 visitors).

The 2013 production (“Brilliant!” about Britain) attracted only 225,000, the lowest in a decade, even though PHS added an extra day to the show. Becher blamed TV forecasters, contending that their no-show snowstorm scared visitors away and caused a shortfall of about $2 million.

Those in the “snow-happens-in-March” camp scoffed.

They found the theme ho-hum. They blamed pricey tickets ($32 at the door) and parking ($25/day). They couldn’t find a place to sit or landscaping ideas to take home.

“You try some things, and some things work and some things don’t. We can do better,” Becher says. “That’s a show.”

The 2014 production will bring more change, which has become the watchword of Becher’s four-year tenure. At the same time, in a nod to the old guard, a popular feature that was eliminated in 1996, when the show moved from the old Civic Center in West Philadelphia to Center City, will be restored.

Yes, the much-missed, fragrant hyacinths that greeted winter-weary visitors at the entrance to the old show are back. About 700 will grace the base of the show’s entrance garden, Becher’s new name for the erstwhile central feature.

PHS’ Flower Show survey indicated that visitors didn’t like the pale colors and minimalist style of the 2013 central feature – oops, entrance garden. So PHS designers this year are emphasizing bold hues: They created three oversize picture frames and a garden inspired by Alexander Calder’s mobiles, paintings, and sculptures. They’ll be filled with brightly colored flowers, grasses, stones, and glass.

Becher wants the entrance garden to be more interactive, inviting visitors to walk through and around it, rather than just passing by.

“The days of people just walking in and looking at exhibits and ‘Isn’t that a nice pond, aren’t those nice flowers?’ are gone,” he says. “People want the experience now. They want to walk through and lose themselves.”

That idea informs this year’s showbiz element, delivered by Bandaloop of Oakland, Calif., an aerial dance troupe that has performed on vertical surfaces from Seattle’s Space Needle to the Italian Dolomites.

Dancers won’t exactly be walking through the entrance garden. They’ll be doing their thing while suspended from the Convention Center ceiling.

For traditionalists, the show will have its signature plant competitions in the $1 million Horticort, funded by philanthropist Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton, a fierce competitor, who is calling it quits after decades of ribbon sweeps.

The Horticort will honor Hamilton with an exhibit of Flower Show history and her place in it. Some of her best-known plants – clivias, orchids, lilies, hanging baskets, shoo-ins all – will be on display.

Becher has other changes in store:

The show’s lectures, traditionally consigned to rooms along a Convention Center hallway, will be moved inside the show. And no more PowerPoint presentations. Becher wants more audience participation.

Culinary programs, too, are moving inside the show to highlight the “hot local chefs” whom PHS is bringing (Rich Landau, Tia McDonald) and the not-so-local stars, like Rachael Ray, Edward Lee, and “The Fabulous Beekman Boys.” (Aramark, provider of the Convention Center’s food, also consulted Philadelphia’s Jose Garces on the show’s cafe menu.)

Although ticket prices are a frequent complaint, PHS nixed the idea of a cheaper option this year – say, a $20 ticket for weeknights after 5 o’clock. Instead, it went with a new $125 VIP package with perks.

But PHS appears to have listened on another front: 600 new seats will be added throughout the show, bringing the total to 1,100.

Finally, weather. After such a winter, a snowy forecast – correct or not – likely won’t keep anyone away from the 2014 Flower Show. Might even boost attendance.

 

vsmith@phillynews.com

215-854-5720

facebook.com/InqGardening

@inkygardener

www.inquirer.com/

KisstheEarth

 


READER SUBMITTED: Terryville/Berlin/Bristol Landscapers Win Top Awards At …

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Laura Soll, Connecticut Flower Garden Show

Statewide

7:10 p.m. EST, February 22, 2014

On Feb. 20, right after the doors closed on Day 1 of the 2014 Connecticut Flower Garden Show, the many professional landscapers who created the show’s 20 lush, live gardens on-site gathered. More than two dozen design awards were presented by Kristie Gonsalves, president of North East Expos, organizer of the 33rd annual show. A panel of horticulture and landscape design experts judged strolled the gardens earlier in the day and selected the winners.

The top three 2014 awards: “Best of Show” was awarded to Pondering Creations of Terryville (landscape #1) – for the second year in a row! Best Horticulture Award was presented to Hillside Landscaping Co. of Berlin (landscape #12). Best Design Award was presented to Supreme Landscapes LLC (landscape #4) of Bristol. Awards are on display in front of all of the winning landscapes.

The Connecticut Flower Garden Show continues through Sunday, Feb. 23 at the Connecticut Convention Center on 100 Columbus Boulevard in Hartford. Info at http://www.ctflowershow.com or North East Expos at 860-844-8461.

Copyright © 2014, The Hartford Courant

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Drought bringing an end to the water-guzzling grass lawn

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Lafayette homeowner Michael Johnson has 2,500 square feet of thirsty fescue growing in his front yard. Although he’s already converted most of his property to drought-tolerant plantings, he’s decided to kill the rest of his lawn within a few weeks. With California facing its worst drought and water agencies throughout the state asking residents to cut back home water use, “it’s the right thing to do,” says Johnson, an avid fly fisherman who’s attuned to water issues.

Despite recent storms, this is the third straight year of below-normal rainfall. California is a state where dry is the historical norm. With more and more competing demands for a limited water supply and tighter restrictions likely, maintaining a water-guzzling lawn is looking like the equivalent of driving a Hummer.

“We’ve always said that lawns don’t make sense in certain parts of the West,” says Kathleen Brenzel, garden editor of Sunset magazine. “Lately cities are falling into line with that – legislating about what percentage of new landscapes can be lawns, things like that. It’s hard to deny that lawn grass uses more water than almost any other plant.”

Keeping turfgrass green takes a lot of water. In their recent book, “Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs,” Carol Bornstein, David Fross and Bart O’Brien estimate that California’s 300,000 acres of lawn soak up 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year. That’s equivalent to the annual flow of the Owens and Kern rivers.

The statewide figure covers a lot of variation; Charles Bohlig, East Bay Municipal Utility District water conservation supervisor, notes that although its customers use an average of 40 percent of their household water on lawns and gardens, house lots are larger and lawn irrigation use higher on the dry side of the East Bay hills.

Heavy polluter

Consider, too, all the fertilizer and pesticides lavished on turf. Both mingle with the runoff to pollute streams and the bay when, as happens a lot, lawns get overwatered. Lawn fertilizers give off nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And there’s air pollution from gas-powered maintenance.

John Greenlee, Brisbane landscape designer and author of “The American Meadow Garden” and an advocate of low-water landscaping, has been through big droughts in the ’70s and ’80s and believes this drought has brought California to a tipping point.

“The crazy thing is, anybody who’s been following what’s going on knew this was coming … even without climate change. It’s crazy to ask the city of San Francisco to conserve water when you look at lawns in Alamo and Walnut Creek. Maybe the long party is over. The lawn will be one of the first things to go, and it deserves to.”

Yet the traditional lawn has proved harder to kill than Rasputin. What accounts for its tenacious cultural hold? “There’s almost a visceral reaction to grass, the way it’s soft and springy underfoot,” says Brenzel. Traditional turfgrass also serves a social function, says Merritt College landscape horticulture department head Chris Grampp.

“It’s the only plant that supports active human use. You can’t have a picnic on manzanita. And lawns are suitable for mechanical care – horticulturally simple.” Even arch-critic Greenlee won’t deny the aesthetics: “From a design perspective, I get what a lawn does. It’s a place for the eye to rest, a simple green panel. And for sports turf, there’s no way I’d argue for having an alternative lawn.”

Residential turfgrass, however, has shallow cultural roots in California. “Spanish mission gardens emphasized drought-hardy plants like olives,” Brenzel explains. The first waves of post-Gold Rush Anglo settlers planted trees, not turf. “But people who came from the East fondly remembered the green lawns back home.”

East Coast transplant

The East, where summer rains make lawns viable, was where influential 19th century landscape architects such as Frank Jessup Scott made the lawn a marker of prosperity and respectability and a key element of civic beautification. Eventually, as California suburbia burgeoned after World War II and power mowers and automatic sprinklers made maintenance easier, lawns became the norm even here – the only Mediterranean-climate region where they’ve caught on.

But in recent years, there’s been a shift in attitudes toward lawns, says Kathy Kramer, founder and organizer of the East Bay’s Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (see box), which for the past 10 years has spotlighted homes with mostly native, drought-tolerant plantings.

“Native plant gardens use half the water that a lawn does. They’re also beautiful, and they provide habitat for wildlife. People who are interested in saving money on their water bill, eliminating pesticide use, and enjoying nature right outside their home are moving toward this newer and, I think, more interesting, type of garden.” Other options people are trying: ornamental plants from other Mediterranean climate zones, succulents, even “edible lawns” of heritage grains.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which has asked its customers to cut home water use by 10 percent, recently green-lighted homeowner Michael Johnson’s project as part of its conversion rebate program (see box). At a “Mow No Mo” workshop hosted by Johnson in March, participants will smother his turf under layers of pomace compost – the residue from grape pressing – cardboard and wood-chip mulch. In the fall, a mix of drought-tolerant plants, including native manzanitas, Mediterranean lavender and rosemary, will go in.

Although Greenlee relies on the herbicide Roundup to kill turf, Johnson, with a creek by his yard, won’t be using it: “We like our wildlife.”

He’s been whittling away at his greensward for years: “We’ve been considering removing the last of it for a while, but the drought sealed the deal.”

 

Bay Area cities offering rebates

A growing number of Northern California cities and water districts offer landscape conversion incentive programs. Residents who replace conventional sod lawns with less thirsty plantings can earn rebates. The East Bay Municipal Utility District offers rebates of up to $2,500 for residential lawn conversion and irrigation upgrades. Some trees, shrubs, ornamental annuals, no-mow sod and artificial turf are not allowed as lawn alternatives; native and other drought-tolerant plants are encouraged. Before-and-after inspection by EBMUD staffers is required.

For more information on the EBMUD Lawn Conversion Irrigation Upgrade Rebate Program: http://bit.ly/1bQixCH.

Others rewarding lawn replacement include:

 

North Marin Water District (http://bit.ly/1fkysxy)

 

Santa Clara Valley Water District (http://bit.ly/1eYJjc7)

 

Napa (http://bit.ly/1eYOsRp)

 

Sonoma (http://bit.ly/1fkB0Mc)

 

Menlo Park (http://bit.ly/NeSpeJ)

San Francisco, where lawns are less common, doesn’t have a comparable program, although the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission promotes laundry-to-landscape gray-water use.

 

Garden tour

Bringing Back the Natives, a free, self-guided tour of 40 water-wise Alameda and Contra Costa county gardens, takes place May 4. A native plant sale featuring several nurseries specializing in California natives takes place May 3 and 4. A series of workshops will be offered in conjunction with the event. To register, go to www.bringingbackthenatives.net.

Resources

“Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving Plants, Practices, and Designs” by Carol Bornstein, David Fross and Bart O’Brien. Cachuma Press, 2011, $23.83.

“The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn” by John Greenlee. Timber Press, 2009, $34.95.

Joe Eaton and Ron Sullivan are Berkeley naturalists and freelance writers. E-mail: home@sfchronicle.com

Home show opens with landscapers’ ideal outdoor patios and plantings

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While central Ohioans were still shoveling out from winter last week, 11 landscaping companies
were rushing to make the season a memory, at least temporarily.  The landscapers were building
patios and planting gardens at the Columbus Dispatch Home Garden Show, which runs through
next Sunday at the Ohio Expo Center.

Sponsored by Ohio Mulch, the show features outdoor rooms nicer than many home interiors, with
flat-screen televisions, see-through fireplaces, full kitchens, sculptures, waterfalls, elaborate
lighting and plush furniture, all accented by willows, maples, azaleas, magnolias, hydrangeas,
rhododendrons and the colorful blooms of bedding plants.

“Colors are very important in gardens,” said Ellen Gallucci Purcell, chairwoman of the Columbus
Landscape Association’s home and garden show committee.

“We used a lot of coral bells in our garden,” said Purcell, vice president of Riepenhoff

Landscape. “The blooms aren’t spectacular; it’s the leaves that provide the color. Everybody
tries to find plants that are different for the show.”

In addition to stressing color, many landscapers are focusing on lighting and paving
features.

Cedarbrook Landscaping and Garden Center, for example, includes trees covered in small LED
lights to create a fairy-tale setting.

Visitors will also notice jumbo planters in many of the gardens.

“Container gardening has really taken off; it’s getting to be an art,” said John Reiner,
president of Oakland Nursery, whose display features several containers. “People like all the color
and variety without the care.”

As dozens of workers scrambled on Friday setting pavers, watering plants, laying mulch, building
trellises and arranging furniture, Purcell remained confident in the result.

“Everybody’s worked very hard to create new gardens that will look spectacular,” she said.

jweiker@dispatch.com

Handy tips on vegetable gardening in containers

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Do you want to grow vegetables in your garden but, you find that space is insufficient?

Container gardening may be an option for you. Growing vegetables in containers in a window sill, patio, or a balcony may provide enough space for a productive mini-garden. Container gardening is also a good way to introduce children to vegetable gardening.

Crop selection is an important consideration for any garden both traditional or container. Most any vegetable can be grown in containers. Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and parsley are examples of suitable vegetables for container gardening. Variety selection is important.

When planting vegetables weather can be a factor in the success of the variety you choose. Planting guides are available to aid in getting the variety planted at the appropriate time to achieve good yields. Freezing weather can cause damage to several vegetable varieties. One advantage with container gardens is if freezing weather is predicted, one can move the containers indoors during these conditions.

Selection of the growing media is another important decision in growing container vegetables. The growing media must drain well yet hold water for the plant to take it up. The media must also have nutrients and be able to physically support the desired plant species. There are soil mixes available or you may mix your own.

Proper watering is essential for a successful container garden. If we water too much the plant may begin to show disease symptoms or even die. If we water too little the plants will be weakened and shrivel. Check the soil regularly and water as needed. If we are receiving adequate rainfall, this may be all the water needed for a period of time.

Almost any type of container can be used for growing vegetables. Some use bushel baskets, drums, gallon cans, tubs, or wooden boxes. The size of the container will vary according to the crop selected and available space. Small pots 6 inches to 10 inches are suitable in size for green onions, parsley or herbs. For vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, 5 gallon containers work well. Select containers that fit your situation. Containers must also drain adequately for successful yields. Some even add about 1 inch of course gravel to the bottom of the container to aid in drainage.

Fertilization of the vegetable crop is important. Plants need adequate nutrients to produce well. Some incorporate the fertilizer material into the soil media as it is mixed together. Others use slow release fertilizers. Water soluble fertilizers are also available. Some prepare a nutrient solution pouring the solution over the soil mix.

Nearly all vegetable plants need full sunlight to grow and produce adequate yields. Leafy vegetables can tolerate more shady areas. Fruit- bearing vegetables need the most sun of all. One advantage of container gardening is the container can be moved or placed in the most appropriate place to obtain adequate lighting.

Monitor the plants for disease and insects. With time and care, we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. Harvest these vegetables at the peak of maturity. For taller plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, or beans, caging the plant allows for support as the plant grows upright and puts on fruit.

At the end of the growing season, discard the plant and the soil from the pot. The container can be reused but it may be necessary to sterilize the container to keep plant diseases at a minimum. It is recommended to replace the soil each year in a container garden as well. Properly composted planting media can be reused.

Extension programs serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin.

 

 

 

 

 

Gardening: February Tips

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With the weird/warm/cold warm winter weather we’ve been having, it won’t hurt to prune deciduous trees that haven’t been done yet. Pruning trees and shrubs promotes new growth. Some of them are definitely operating off their normal season and it may take several years for them to return to their cycle after this wonky winter.

Generally, the task is to remove any dead or broken limbs and twigs, open up the tree to light and air, and reduce the overall amount of wood to encourage new growth. It pays to consult a good guide on pruning.

Different types of trees need slightly different methods. Most spring-flowering trees and shrubs bloom on wood from the previous year(s), so if you prune lightly on last year’s branches the current year’s production of flowers (and their fruits) will be affected.

Spring-flowering trees include: Redbud (Cercis canadensis and C. occidentale), flowering quince (Chaenomeles cultivars), saucer magnolia (Magnolia X soulangiana), trumpet tree (Tabebuia chrysantha and T. heterophylla), wisteria, fruit trees like peaches, nectarines, and plums.

Most years, roses don’t really stop blooming, so go ahead and prune them anyway. As soon as the warm weather comes, they will be bursting with new growth and it needs to come lower on the shrub from good strong canes not the thin top growth. Strip off old leaves, too, especially if they show any signs of disease, and bury them in the compost pile. Remember, the pile needs to heat up to really kill any pathogens, so if your compost has gone cold it’s time to turn it and add some more material to get it cooking again.

January is also the traditional month for applying dormant sprays, but if blossoming hasn’t begun (which it has for many early varieties) another round of spray will be okay. If insects such as bark borers or fungal pests like peach leaf curl or black spot have plagued fruit trees, use lime sulfur and copper sprays (like Bordeaux), but remember these are toxic substances and can affect the beneficial organisms in the ecosystem as well as the pests. Dormant oil sprays are safer and compost tea the safest of all. Be sure to get all the surfaces of the plant covered by using a sprayer that creates a fine mist. Spray just until the material begins to drip and don’t forget the trunk.

It may not feel like it, but spring is just around the corner in southern California. Some other gardening chores include:

•Plant bareroot trees and shrubs.

• Plant spring-flowering bulbs.

• Cut back perennials such as Tagetes, Salvia, and Leonotis for bushy new growth.

• Also cut down ornamental grasses to encourage new, vibrant growth.

• Direct sow seeds or start some indoors now, in pots or flats, for later plantings of snapdragon, cornflower, stock, poppy, nasturtium, and pansies as well as salad greens, carrots, beets, peas, onions, and turnips.

• Set out snail and slug traps: either shallow containers of beer or upended pot saucers or old boards. Check daily and dispose of the catch.

• Most plants are still growing slowly. Fertilize potted plants with half strength liquid fertilizer.

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17th Annual Home and Garden Show Provides Gardening Tips and Tricks

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Thousands of people will pass through the MPEC this weekend at the 17th annual home and garden show.

The show is presented as a fundraiser for the Kemp Center for the Arts as well as the non- profit organizations that meet at their building.

This year’s show features more than 200 vendors, showing off products ranging from lawn mowers to yard decorations.

The event also features a variety of speakers giving gardening tips, tricks, and demonstrations.

Organizers say the event has continued to evolve over the years and is a great opportunity for local businesses to interact with customers one- on- one.

“Basically a welcome and open house for our local vendors and so fourth to have an opportunity to have a weekend of 10 thousand people to go through their doors that they may not have at their sight,” says Director Carol Sales.

The home and garden show continues Sunday, click here for more information. 

Simply the pest: Alan Titchmarsh on protecting your garden from slugs, snails …

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Natural powders and sprays

Products based on rapeseed oil (eg Bug Clear) suffocate smaller insect pests by blocking their breathing holes, but leave larger beneficial bugs unharmed. Fatty acids (aka liquid insecticidal soap, eg Organic Bug Free) are modern versions of old remedies for use on flowers, fruit and veg with small insect pests, including hard-to-tackle whitefly and red spider mite. Sulphur powder controls powdery mildew on flowers, veg and some fruit, and pyrethrum powders or sprays (made from chrysanthemum flowers) treat aphids, caterpillars, ants, weevils and flea beetles. 

Varieties with built-in resistance

Many modern varieties of veg have been bred with built-in resistance to certain pests or diseases – these are identified in seed catalogues or on seed packets. You can find partially carrot-fly-resistant carrots, club root-resistant brassicas and courgettes that shrug off mildew or virus. Some modern potato varieties deter eelworm, potato blight and/or other common problems. Many roses are also bred with varying degrees of resistance to disease – consult rose catalogues, reference books or growers’ websites. Young plants of some tomatoes and peppers are available grafted on to rootstocks that resist the kind of root diseases often present in greenhouse soil.

Biological control

A large range of predatory and parasitic bugs is available to tackle particular pest problems, including slugs, vine weevils, greenflies, chafer grubs or leatherjackets in lawns, and red spider mites, whiteflies or mealybugs in greenhouses. There’s also a mixed pack that treats several vegetable garden soil pests as well as ants. Introduce biological control early, as soon as conditions permit, for maximum benefit – a second dose later is often recommended. It’s pricey but effective if used very precisely.

Mother nature’s pest controllersGrow old-fashioned hardy annuals and herbs to encourage a healthy population of wild beneficial insects such as hover flies and ladybirds. Also supply food and water for birds because they eat huge numbers of caterpillars and aphids in the spring. Hedgehogs, thrushes, foxes and shrews will eat snails.