An American in Paris

John and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show last week, which is supposedly the largest indoor flower show in the world. After a long, cold winter, I have to admit I was eager to see some flora, especially since this year’s theme was “Springtime in Paris” and the City of Lights happens to be one of my favorite travel destinations. The mood was set from the moment we walked in and caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower’s base in the center of the big exhibits, which looked slightly more realistic than the Kings Dominion version.

I enjoyed using some of my recently revived photography skills (thanks to the Joy of Love class) to snap some close-ups of the flowers, especially the ones that cause me violent allergic reactions, like these lilies. Now I can enjoy them safely without risking my health.

I also enjoyed the display of roses with large pink-colored filters in oval mirror frames so you could view them through “rose-colored glasses.” Several gardens featuring orchids and tulips pleased me greatly—tulips are one of my favorite flowers, and orchids always remind me of my mom, who used to keep at least one in her bathroom.

While this shadow show was a wee bit short on flowers, it did convey the Parisian theme nicely with this Can-Can dancer shadow shaped from cans.

There was even a bed of roses (clearly, people were enjoying the cleverness of their rose puns a little too much.) I did, however, love the four-sided display of flowers inspired by the musical An American in Paris, which included looped video of the source material. Flowers really are the perfect medium to replicate the fashions and set design of that classic.

One display had several trained trees that looked like giant menorahs to me. Tell me I’m wrong.

This cool woven leaf circle in the Paris Underground exhibit ended up being my favorite photo, after I processed it as black and white in Photoshop. I really like the textures of the natural materials forming such an exact pattern. I may get this one printed and framed for my walls.

After viewing the main exhibits, I was starting to get flower fatigue. So we critically assessed the flower boxes (John’s favorite part of the show), got our Zen on with the bonsai trees, and checked out the vendor aisles, which included a guy standing in a box of water, before heading home. (I think he was selling garden boots, but he looked ridiculous.)