Let It Grow
By Tammy Thornton
With spring just around the corner, South Jersey gardeners are eagerly plotting out new color schemes using flowers that they have been dreaming about all winter long. Garden clubs have reconvened, and nurseries have reopened, overflowing with new offerings of colorful spring flowers. Meeting with like-minded gardeners is a great way to spark creativity and think of new ideas for this year’s garden. Attending garden tours and flower shows can help your imagination run wild. This year’s PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society) Philadelphia Flower Show will have you wanting to run home to plant your own garden, even if it’s at midnight by candlelight.
This year’s theme, “United by Flowers”, celebrates finding unity with our shared “love of gardening, flowers and plants, and the impact they make on our lives all year long.” Now in its 195th year, the show features 32 major exhibitors. As you walk into the show, you will have your first glimpse of the Entrance Garden. Take in the panoramic view, and you’ll want to live in this magical garden. Pink clouds of flowers suspend from above while reflecting onto the glass-like pools of water below. This initial exhibit with the name “Edges and Reflections” boasts the Flower Show’s largest body of water ever created. Meanwhile, enormous flower-filled arrangements appear to be floating on the water with flowering pink trees lining the backdrop. You must linger to take it all in as music continues the entrancing mood and you take a closer look at the scene in front of you. Only then do you realize that you are standing in front of row upon row of tulips bordering the water intermixed with all varieties of flowers. This closer look will help you see how you can implement some of these ideas back home. Though you may not be able to plant pink clouds in your backyard, take notice of how the use of water and reflections can be used in your own garden. Color-blocking also lends to the dramatic effect. Plant groupings of tulips and other spring flowers together using the same color scheme to maximize the visual impact.
If you are able to pull yourself away from this breathtaking Entrance Garden, you will be rewarded with the next exhibit that rivals the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Bursting with vibrant flowers, these tiered arrangements suspend from high above all the way down to ground level, filled with every flower imaginable including roses, amaryllises, tulips, and orchids. While these enormous structures may be a bit out of scale in your own garden, think about how the use of hanging baskets changes perspective. You can really appreciate the differences of viewing your flowers from all different angles. Just around the corner from this display, you will find the amazing exhibit of South Jersey floral designer, Jennifer’s Designs. Their exhibit, entitled “America in Bloom”, features a map of the United States, using flowers for the swathes of colors representing America. The scene is completed with a red convertible ready for the “botanical trip of a lifetime!”
Of course, the flower show wouldn’t be complete without Linwood’s own, the award winning Waldor Orchids. Fourth generation orchid-grower David Off and his team created the exhibit entitled “Vanilla”. Did you know that vanilla comes from the seed pod of an orchid plant? Waldor Orchid’s display celebrates orchids with a focus on these special vanilla orchids that grow as a vine on tree trunks or totems.
In addition to being wowed by the flower power of the larger exhibits, touring through the smaller displays will inspire you to make your herb and vegetable gardens beautiful as well. In the same way that masses of colorful flowers have a dramatic impact, planting large amounts of basil, spinach, and sage will have a mouth-watering effect as you dream about all of the wonderful dishes you can create with your own fresh herbs. Take note as well how flowers are interplanted among herbs and vegetables. Not only does this add a pleasing effect visually to your garden, but you will be attracting more pollinators, which means a more bountiful harvest.
Just as we are united by our love of flowers and gardening, we can draw inspiration from each other for creativity and zest for life. We would love to hear from our Shore Local readers. What has inspired you for this new gardening season? Send your comments, questions, and gardening pictures to: shorelocalgardener@gmail.com.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
