Exhibit Showcase: Students at the Flower Show

For the 2012 Flower Show, students at Temple University Ambler School of Environmental Design
have created a misty mountain where ferns cling and shade-loving Taro plants thrive! Their exhibit is called Aloha Aina: A Return to Life with the Land, and it is a striking interpretation of the Hawaii theme. You can listen to a podcast about how the students conceived, designed, and built their exhibit by clicking here.

Students from the Delaware Valley College, Department of Natural Resources and Bio-systems Management invite you to venture underneath a mountain stream to see a world teeming with life! Their exhibit is titled World Beneath Our Feet, and it reminds visitors to reflect upon the necessity of these often unseen systems of plants, animals and soils to sustain life.

The students at Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades worked hand-in-hand with experts from Colonial Williamsburg to create a garden  called American Roots: A Williamsburg Colonial Kitchen Garden.

The exhibit has heirloom vegetables, espalier fruit trees, and an herb garden—all enclosed in a rustic wood fence. Stop to admire the era-appropriate tools in this well-researched display.

W.B Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences students take an interesting approach to this year’s theme by reminding visitors that today’s Hawaiian paradise began with the arrival of plants brought from Polynesian islands. Their exhibit is called “Ka Māla: The Canoe Garden” because it prominently features a student-made canoe representing the canoes full of tropical plants that were originally brought to Hawaii from the Polynesian islands. Three courses at the school collaborated for this ambitious project.

The Horticulture Academy at Abraham Lincoln High School has created an exhibit that highlights green walls and their utility in public transportation. Titled On the Right Track: Going Vertical, the exhibit features a SEPTA station decked out with green walls (also called living walls, eco-walls or vertical gardens).

We applaud the efforts of these students! Great work!

Students Shine at the Flower Show

This year, the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades (106 S New Middletown Rd, Media, PA 19063) built an enchanting bayou garden for Flower Show visitors.

The Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana is regarded as the largest forest-river swamp in North America and is home to a fantastic variety of plants that are hardy enough to live in the Philadelphia region. From the bald cypress and river birch to the buttonbush, swamp azalea, summer sweet clethra and Virginia sweetspire, the native growth of the bayou has tremendous value to northern gardens.

Across the aisle, the students at W. B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences (7100 Henry Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19128) crafted “A Tale of Two Cities,” revealing the horticultural link between Paris and Philadelphia. This includes the beautiful thoroughfares: the Champs-Elysees and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The design also incorporates red maples, red oaks, and sweet gum trees under-planted with springtime bulbs, annuals and perennials.

Up next, the Horticulture Academy at Abraham Lincoln High School has partnered with Monrovia to follow the journey of President Thomas Jefferson, who was appointed the Minister to France early in his career and later introduced many new plants to the US. He brought these specimens to the gardens at Monticello, his estate in Virginia, and today these horticulture-minded students are bringing it to life on the floor the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

 

Did You Know Several Trees, Shrubs and Perennials…

native to the bayou do well in Philadelphia gardens? Plants such as bald-cypress, river birch,  buttonbush, swamp azalea, summersweet clethra and Virginia sweetspire make the list. 

That’s one of many educational treats longtime exhibitor, the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, will share with visitors at the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show, “Springtime in Paris.” 

A plethora of plants from the bayou are of tremendous value to northern gardens, Williamson tells us. They will featured in Williamson’s  exhibit. 

Stay tuned for more!

Williamson's exhibit from the 2010 Flower Show.

Exciting attractions for students at this year’s Flower Show.

The Philadelphia Zoo will be sending colorful representatives to do demos at the Flower Show.

The Philadelphia International Flower Show (February 28-March 7) is a great study break for area college students.

In keeping with the “Passport to the World” theme there will be daily musical performances by the vibrant Brazilian troupe, Minas, who recently performed at World Café Live in University City.

There will also be classical and contemporary Indian dance led by Rujuta Vaidya, choreographer for the spectacular Slumdog Millionaire dance sequence presented at the 2009 Academy Awards.

Take a Green Tour at the Flower Show

PNC's green wall in Pittsburgh.

The Philadelphia International Flower Show is an opportunity to learn how to protect the environment and play a part in sustaining its natural resources.

As principal fundraiser for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Flower Show generates $1 million in revenues for its nationally renowned urban revitalization program, Philadelphia Green.

Visitors can learn about some of Philadelphia Green’s key initiatives, such as its entrepreneurial City Harvest effort, at the PHS Village display. City Harvest is a partnership with the prison system, community gardeners and food cupboard operators dedicated to ensuring fresh produce for under-served communities and nurturing urban agriculture in the region.

PNC Bank, the Presenting Sponsor of the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show, will express its environmental message with a 16-foot-high by 20-foot-wide “living wall” of plants and recycled materials.

‘Forests and Man’ Coming to Show

Getting the public to think about global warming and acid rain, and what can be done now to ensure the quality of life for future generations, is the goal of the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades’ exhibit in the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show.

“Forests and Man,” an educational exhibit, will teach visitors about forests — what their ecology was like in the past, what environmental condition they are in today, and how they will change into the future.

The exhibit will have two components, one featuring an Eastern deciduous forest, such as the type found in the northeastern United States, and the other, a Chinese forest, featuring the native flora of China.

“Most people don’t realize the native flora of the eastern United States is more similar to the flora of China than it is to Europe,” said Donald Jackson, Williamson’s director of horticulture and exhibitor coordinator. “If you were to walk through the forests of China, you would recognize more trees than you would in Europe.”