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March 24, 2005
Macy's Flower Show, or A Better Way to Sell Handbags
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Flower shows inspire citygardenguide with a kind of horrified fascination. Just what is it about them that draws thousands of visitors? As one bewildered Englishwoman said to us as she surveyed the flower bedecked expanse of Macy's ground floor, "It's a hodgepodge really..I don't get the point."
If the point is to see over a million exceedingly well-grown plants all at once, then this is the venue for you. The plant material is incredibly vibrant and varied. Everything from rare and exotic orchids to the
latest, fashionable variegated hydrangea has been squished together on platforms above the merchandise counters. Just consider the trees; we saw specimen Japanese maples, birch, weeping birch, pine, and weeping spruce, as well as cherries, dogwood and crab apples in full bloom. There are hundreds of shrubs, with rhododendron, azalea, forsythia and hydrangea just the most obvious species. The flowers are even more abundant. It is as if the entire seasonal contents of a superior garden center were displayed together, which seems to be pretty much what happens. Matterhorn Nursery of Spring Valley, one of the region's premier nurseries, is Macy's growing and design partner for the show. The sheer skill and effort required to get all those plants ready and perky for their two-week appearance is mindboggling.
The theme of the Flower Show this year is Gardens of Fantasy...and therein lies the problem for garden nuts. Fantasy yes, but would you call these gardens? No, to think of them as gardens, places of beauty and contemplation, is to set yourself up for disappointment and even revulsion. Think of them as theatre, or novelty. Enjoy the crowds reveling in the displays, and laugh at the adorable succulent topiaries. There's a cheerful fish at the Herald Square entrance, entirely made of kalanchoe, sedum and hens-and-chicks, and an engaging unicorn that is the centerpiece of the White Garden. We also enjoyed the dinosaur made from hens-and-chicks which prowls over the Bromeliads.
The show is organized into 17 themed displays. By far the most attractive is the Orchid Arcade. Orchids lend themselves to lavish and luxuriant display, and their feminine aura kind of works with the cosmetics counters underneath them. Also there are some amazing specimens, like a Dendrobium "Thongchai Gold" which apparently has never before been seen in the US. The other displays are, to quote our English friend again, more of a hodgepodge of generally huge and brightly colored blossoms. Subtlety is not a quality aspired to here.
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The opulent floral explosions amplified by the frantic retail activity on the floor is enough to send a garden lover straight to the loneliest corner of Central Park, where as we mentioned, the first crocuses are blooming amid the grey brown detritus of last year's ferns....now that's spring.
Macy's Flower show runs until April 3. There are events and demonstrations each day, as well as free 30-minute tours of the show.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at March 24, 2005 02:47 PM