The Boston Flower Garden Show this year is full of temptations. Visitors will want to take a seat in armchairs centered around stone fireplaces and waterfall pools, and they will want to enter the serenity of Japanese-influenced gardens.
In their interpretation of the theme “Seeds of Change,” many designers have explored innovative ways to bring the living room outdoors and to use the aesthetic of Japanese design to create spaces for relaxation. The show, which runs through Sunday at the Seaport World Trade Center, features not only what visitors expect – beautiful landscapes of flowers, shrubs and trees, handsome stonework and lively water features – but also live chickens, exotic birds and a 5-foot long Chinese Golden dragon made from plants and flowers.
“Our audience is getting more adventurous,” said show director Carolyn Weston. “People seem hungry for information beyond the basics of gardening. The garden has become more than a place to plant flowers and shrubs, but a place to do adventurous things.”
Adventure can take the form of growing plants vertically and on pergola roofs, incorporating recycled and salvaged materials, embracing the aesthetic of other cultures and breaking down the boundaries between indoors and out.
In the garden by Maria Sadek, owner of Interior Designs by M.S., a large seating area is covered by a pergola made from recycled timber supports and a roof of salvaged windows and stained glass. On its border, an 8-foot high “living wall” is made of herbs and spouts water into a rectangular pool.
An outdoor living area by Rutland Nurseries has a weather-proof television mounted on a mahogany wall, a waterfall flowing out of a fieldstone stack onto polished stones, and a granite fire pit.
In an 1,800 square foot exhibit by Paul Miskovsky of Miskovsky Landscaping of Falmouth, the seating area is part of a garden that includes a hen house with Rhode Island Reds, a garden shed and raised bed garden, a bamboo arbor, a bocce court, a fiberglass sculpture of a trumpeter, and an abundance of informal and formal plantings.
“I tried to incorporate many different concepts and broke almost every rule when it comes to gardening,” Miskovsky said.
In his Japanese influenced garden, Jay Bearfield, owner of Liquid Landscape Designs of Carlisle, placed a round pillow, perfect for yoga or meditating, at the end of a stone bridge in the center of his garden. Above it, Buddha’s face looks down, created by a tower of mosaics.
“I like to create spaces that encourage people to interact with their gardens,” said Barfield said. “This is a place that can create ‘seeds of change’ within people.
In addition to the 20 large gardens, designers created “Pocket Change Gardens,” three 6-by-6 foot patio gardens with a budget of just $250. Deborah Trickett, owner of The Captured Garden of Milton, expanded on the silvery and copper colors of coins to create an intimate corner, where a silver-colored patio chair is surrounded by silvery paint cans and duct tubing turned into planters hosting plants in a variety of hues of green and copper, shapes and textures.
“My seeds of change is to find new uses for things and to reuse what you have,” Trickett said. “These plants are low-maintenance and can be brought indoors in the winter.”
Throughout the show, lectures and presentations cover common gardening and design issues, as well related hobbies, such as bee keeping, chicken raising, canning and preserving. Local designers Derek Stern and Dean Marisco, hosts of the DIY show “Indoors Out,” will speak about designing for the outdoors. More than 100 vendors exhibit in the Garden Marketplace.
In addition, amateur gardeners show their skill in Blooms!, sponsored by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. Not to be missed, the displays reveal a wide range of creativity as people use flowers and plants to decorate hats, make jewelry, prepare a child’s birthday table, adorn doors and represent Boston landmarks.
IF YOU GO . . . .
The Boston Flower Garden Show runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Boulevard, Boston. Tickets are $20 adults, $17 seniors, $10 ages 6-17 and free ages 5 and under. Tickets available at all Roche Brothers and Sudbury Farms and at the show. For more information, go to www.thebostonflowershow.com.
Jody Feinberg may be reached at jfeinberg@ledger.com.
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