MEET ME AT THE FLOWER SHOW 
LEONARD BARRON 
Thousands of Plants Enjoyed by Thousands of People During the Week of March 12-17 (Grand Central Palace, 
New York City). When Winter Winds and Woes were Drowned in a Sea of Springtime Scent and Color 
E ACH succeeding year sees a greater public gathering in 
the metropolis at the great “ International.” Even in¬ 
clement weather with the season’s heaviest rains cannot 
materially dampen the ardor and gleefulness of the 
visiting pilgrims who come from afar, for the New York Flower 
Show Week has assumed the nature of a “movable feast” in 
the calendar of the garden devotee. From the distant Pacific 
Coast, from across the northern border and from the southern¬ 
most points, and from each intermediate centre come visitors 
to New York who plan their yearly pilgrimage to be coincident 
with this great spring Flower Show. It is this gathering 
of garden lovers from all sections that really gives the char¬ 
acter to the annual meeting. That fully as much as the 
displays of plants and flowers. 
Looked at in retrospect and stripped of all the glamor of 
color and massed effects, one year’s show, so far as the mater¬ 
ial staged by the growers is concerned, differs but little from 
those of other years. Very largely the same exhibitors of 
much like (if not actually the same) materials, and more often 
than not in the same places on the floor. New plants of 
sterling merit, real acquisitions to our gardens, come rarely; 
and, even if extant, may not be available for a New York 
Show in the month of March. What we do see is a large 
outpouring of greenhouse grown plants and flowers—such 
as are in season—and florists’ produce in a degree of un¬ 
paralleled excellence. Rose, Carnation, Sweet-pea and the 
like; Orchids of great variety in surprisingly large quantity 
and fine cultivation; and a host of “decorative” plants 
(Palms, Ferns, etc.), forced shrubs; and plants proper to 
the early outdoor garden, with a few flowering trees spectac¬ 
ularly arranged in delusive but none the less beautiful 
“gardens.” These gardens are in fact decorative arrange¬ 
ments of unquestioned skill in design and color harmony, 
wonderful assemblages of flowering beauty for the brief 
period portrayed, and in practical application serviceable 
rather in their suggestions for design than in their use of 
plant materials. Perhaps, however, this is all that can be done. 
And all that has a real use, too, since the puDlic is attracted 
and enthralled, going away, as one lady was overheard to ob¬ 
serve, “tired and satisfied”; and from concentrated thought on 
such creations of beauty there is stimulated in to being on a 
smaller scale and in different environments other beauty spots 
in and about individual homes all over the land. 
S UCH an exhibition maybe regarded from two or three distinct 
standpoints. For the professional gardener or technical 
horticulturist there is the analysis of material and the perfection 
THE FORMAL DUTCH GARDEN OF DUTCH BULBS 
This is but one corner of the Darwin Tulip garden of John Scheepers, Inc., which was 
the biggest single exhibit in the show, covering 1600 sq. ft. The general color effect 
was pink from such varieties as Clara Butt, Mme. Krelage, Wm. Copeland, King 
George V, and Princess Juliana. Yellow foil was made by Pansies and Daffodils 
of its cultivation; for the gardening home- 
owner there is the suggestion of design and 
effectiveness of grouping and massing, to say 
nothing of the accessories and sundries that 
lighten labor; for the artistic and poetic 
there is the all-satisfying vision of loveliness 
into which questions of material and quality 
enter not at all—sufficient is the sight thereof. 
That the particular needs of all these groups 
are combined and satisfied at the one time 
is no small achievement. 
The trend of the show is more and more 
toward demonstrations of garden design! 
The “wars of the Rose gardens” which 
COLOR GARDEN OF SPRING FLOWERS 
Exhibit of Mrs. William Boyce Thompson, win¬ 
ning first prize in the class for private growers. 
It is a masterful combination of warm rich hues 
of yellow orange and red (Clarkia, Corizema, 
Roses, Acacias, Genista dominant). Blue Pansies, 
Daffodils, Kew Primula and Lupins in centre 
bed. Hyacinths, Nemesias, Primula malacoides, 
Buddleia asiatica and Lilies abundant 
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