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Take a trip to the Riviera at this year's Philadelphia Flower Show. Enter under an archway with cascading Mediterranean colors -- a floral display that evokes the feeling of sunshine and sparkling blue waters.
Proceed through to a natural landscape of Greece designed by James and Helen Basson of Monaco, featuring cypress trees, goat-pruned vegetation, white mustard (Sinapis alba), germander (Teucrium chamaedrys), and a beautiful purple helleborus of the Rodney Davey Marbled Group.
Don't miss the exhibit by Laurélie de la Salle of Tourrettes-sur-Loup, France, a cape surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, including a pebble beach, pine and olive trees, succulents, sea pink (Armeria maritima) and other plants that tolerate drought, heat, and sea spray.
I was also struck by the refugee exhibit by Wish of Wilmington, Delaware. It's a narrative about the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region, featuring botanicals from Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and the dramatic human stories of those trying to cross the seas for a better life.
And finally, there's the Princess Grace Rose Garden in honor of Philadelphia's own Grace Kelly, the movie star who married Prince Rainier of Monaco. The display features Grimaldi family rose plants, a replica of her wedding dress, a poem about roses that she wrote as a teenager; and other surprising stories from her life.
Of course there are many more displays to see; a Biodiversity Symposium; potting parties; and pop-up moments throughout the show.
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