Philadelphia Flower Show

Yesterday I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show. It was fantastic and I don't use the word lightly. Acres and acres of beautiful gardens and the very finest specimen plants. There were about 400 vendors in addition to all the displays following the theme "Bella Italia": Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Milan, Lake Region, Riviera, and ancient Rome. It was over the top. Too much to fully absorb but I saw and smelled hundreds of memorable floral treats. Here is a taste of what was there.

The entrance and resting place. People came out and sat on the carpet when they needed a break.

Succulents are so photogenic

It seemed everybody had a camera and it looked like they were making a salute to the floral excellence as each person raised his/her camera and clicked. I went through 3 sets of batteries.

Opera singers in costume entertained us with Italian arias from the height of this pavilion, which was a cafe. The crowds were thick but after 4:00 it was much easier (Most tour buses left at 3:30; ours left at 5:30)

The lighting was dim in many areas and it's amazing any of my photos came out.

Classical statues stood in many of the gardens and fountains splashed delightfully.

I wanted to walk right into this one

The Bonsai were breathtaking. This tree is 275 years old.

Ikebana

It was a brighter orange than the picture indicates.

So many kinds of cactus. They pick up the pot with pincers.

It will take me a while to go through all my pictures--I snapped over a hundred. This is the first batch of several I will post. There was so much to see that after 6 hours I was numb even with 3 rest breaks. The flower show of a lifetime!

(I meant to post this on my other blog, Winged Words. Guess I was still bleary-eyed as it ended up here. Oh well, all of us on the bus were from the Stony Brook area, so that fits.)