This post will focus mostly on design. This year's theme was "Passports to the World" and my visit was almost completely ruined by the army of old ladies, and everyone's grandmother, roaming around. This isn't one person's fault at all but it was so crowded that at time the casual grace period strangers give one another to take pictures went out the window. I'd be standing patiently with my camera at the ready waiting for a dear sweet women to get out the shot, only to have another dear sweet women (who was standing next to me the whole time) jump infront of my scene to gawk at a common red tulip (You Bitch!) My advice to anyone planning to go is pick the coldest, most flu enduing day possible; the kind of day where those with poor immune systems would be told by their doctor to stay indoors.
Thankfully this crowd was mostly there for the main exhibits inspired by Singapore, South Africa, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Brazil, and India. These are right at the main entrance and I found the rest of the show ranged from bearable to not crowded at all.
To their credit this dear sweet women crowd added a certain charm to the show. More than once I over hear comments on what they thought of some plant, and often times it was in a foreign accent. A surprising number of people visiting weren't from the U.S.
I'm focusing this post on design elements so there aren't many full exhibit shots. As I said it was fairly crowded, so I focused on individual plants and neat things.
As one would expect there were lots of flowers, too many in fact. Part way through the show I found this refreshing. I liked the color and the idea of a fan of roses.
Guahh I'm the Eiffel Tower Monster! I'm going to destroy France! Guahhh!
Topiary animals were found on several exhibits. These aren't really a topiary, more like a parade float. But they are well done.
A carpet of grass suddenly moves every now and then revealing itself to be a crocodile. The "feathers" in it's mouth are the same as the flamingos. I chuckled a bit.
This lobster sort of sat there and did nothing. It's okay I guess.
This is supposidly a fish (I think) but it's a little hard to see, and even harder to notice at the show.
I assume this is a dragon. They get points for trying.
This was an excellent idea. My picture could have been better though. And to a lesser extent there could be more going on in their display. Maybe adding more frames in different styles and sizes would add to the effect.
This was my favorite I think. I believe this was part of the New Zealand exhibit. I would love to have a massive copper sea monster in my yard. Also note the Tree Ferns from Australia growing in the background. Tree Fern is such an appropriate name for them. Many were planted on the outside of the display on purpose so you could walk under them. I loved this display, and I'm kicking myself for not getting a better shot of the ferns though.
This was a small element to someone's display. I don't understand it but love the idea of a mason bee friendly wall.
By far this was the worst display of the whole show. It's the American Flag (highly unoriginal) and it's in no way visible. This should have been a living wall or had a massive mirror hanging above it or something. Hell prop it at an angle. How are the judges supposed to judge your design if they can't even see it.
That said, I hope I haven't just bashed a memorial of some sort. There were a lot of people walking around and it was easy to over look the rules or stats of entries that are usually discretely tucked away, knee high, somewhere.
I loved this one. Though I think there was something like it last year. This is what the American flag exhibit should have been like.
All of the vases are suspended above the ground by a series of wires. Even the water for the plants has been incorporated into the design. This was fantastic.
This one I liked but didn't quite get. Colored tubes with similar colored bouquets on top of them. It needed something.