Gardening: Flowers

Philadelphia Flower Show 2009

If you get a kick out of flowers, you are going to love the 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show.

With flower displays simple to complex - like these incredible flower-embellished pumps - the show offers an endless stream of color and beauty during the final gray days of winter. Come on in!

PHS/Pete Prown

The organizers of the Philadelphia Flower Show begin planning up to three years in advance.

And if you look at the show by the numbers, you can understand why.The space encompasses 33 acres indoors.

Here's some other math for you:

Amount of water in the show's central feature: 8,700 gallons. That's surrrounded by 800 angelonia, 550 boxwood hedges, 150 delphiniums, 125 skip cherry laurels, 70 statues, urns and garden fountains and 50 pink and yellow roses.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of cut roses in a single entrance urn: 3,300.That's 275 dozen roses.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Average price of a dozen roses when ordered online: $20.

That means this grand arrangement has to be worth at least $5,500.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of bougainvillea plants in the central feature: 400, in four varieties.

Like others at the show, these plants thrive best in warmer climates, which is why many are put in greenhouses with lights and heat - one to four months before show time so they could flower. After all, it's cold in Philly this time of year!

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of topiary animals, including a fox, frog, rooster, cat and dog (seen here), all made from ivy and other plant materials, to be staged in the "Animal Kingdom" at the show: Nine.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of Italian cities and regions featured in the show: Eight.

With the theme of "Bella Italia," displays inspired by Rome, Milan, Sam Remo, Venice Tuscany, the Lake Region, Florence and Sicily are featured in the show.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of award-winning gondolas in the show: One.

Philadelphia-based Jamie Rothstein designed this gondola for the Venice-inspired exhibit, "Bella Notte" and took home the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Trophy for the most accomplished display of forced and/or cut flowers in a showcase garden exhibit.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of years the show has been around: 180.

Guinness World Records has deemed it the longest-running and earliest-documented horticultural show.



The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Number of Italian-inspired dresses on the flower show's runway: 16.

Community plays a huge role at the Philadelphia Flower Show which is why fashion students at the Moore College of Art have designed dresses as part of the spectacle.


The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society