Philadelphia Flower Show 2017

Recently, I had an amazing floral adventure doing floral design work at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Along with 30 amazing floral designers and helpers from around the country, we spent several days last week helping Bill Schaffer and Kris Kratt-Schaffer of Schaffer Designs install their floral exhibit for the 2017 Philadelphia Flower Show.

This year's theme of the flower show is Holland: Flowering the World. Many garden and floral displays included tulips, bicycles, bridges, and canals. The Schaffer design incorporated 10 large white bicycle structures to pay homage to the White Bicycle Plan in Holland in the 1960's, the world's first such movement to provide free bicycles for public transportation. The orange flowers in the display represent the national color of Holland.

When the floral designers arrived last Monday, 100's of hours of work had already been put in by Bill, Kris, and a core team to design the exhibit, select and order flowers, and create the structures. A group of 30 people became Team Schaffer as we spent over 40 hours in three days layering orange flowers, more orange flowers, and even more orange flowers to complete the design.

The finished design. 10,000+ stems of orange flowers, 10 white bicycle structures.

The experience was amazing and inspiring. A collaboration of people with the same passion for all things floral. The best part? Working with and getting to know 30+ people who are now a part of an extended family.

The Philadelphia Flower Show is put on by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. At just over 10 acres, it is the largest indoor flower show in the world. This year's event runs 9 days, March 11-19. The entrance garden had over 30,000 tulip bulbs!