Oh no! No 2009 New England Flower Show

[Rosalind]

Now I know the economy is circling the drain. The big New England flower show has been held every year for over a century. But in 2009, they are changing it to only one or possibly two small shows, not in the Bayside Expo. Since there's really only one other convention center in Boston big enough to hold a decent-sized show, I guess it'll be much much smaller with fewer vendors and less-elaborate displays. Which kinda sucks, it was comparable to the Philly show and now it sounds like, not so much.

I'm hoping they'll focus on more actual gardening vendors in 2009. The 2008 show was nice, don't get me wrong, I got a really nice handmade stoneware bean pot (for Boston baked beans, what else!), but what I desperately needed to find was local garden centers that had a good variety of plants, local sources for good tools, and local sources for good statuary. Some things, it's better to buy in person, so you know you're getting a decently solid tool, a good bushy plant, not-plastic-looking statuary, etc. and for that a garden show is awesome. Not that I don't like pottery thingies and socks with dogs embroidered on them, just...not at a garden show.

I was sorta wishing that they would get, I dunno, Whole Foods in to do the food for 2009, as the Bayside Expo was all fried greasy food. Which has its place at fairs and things, but when you go to a flower show and the first smell that knocks you over as you walk in the door is...Well, let's just say I was hoping for roses or spring bulbs, and was sorely disappointed. But Whole Paycheck catering is also spendy. So...eh, very sad.

 

[Reinbeau]

I am a member of the New England Unit of the Herb Society of America. We have a display garden at Elm Bank, the new headquarters for the Mass Hort. Society. We have a significant investment there, and have had meetings with a couple of the trustees. One of the suggestions has been to bring a later spring flower show to Elm Bank, ala the Chelsea show over in England (it's a wonderful show!). I echoed that suggestion at the meeting I attended with a trustee. I told them that right now the face of the Mass Hort Society was the Boston Flower Show - and at that, few attendees really understood that Mass Hort was hosting the show.

If you live in this area and haven't been out to Elm Bank in Wellesley and checked out the gardens , you're missing a gem more need to know about. It's beautiful, and open to the public. There's 36 acres that Mass Hort leases in an old MDC park that is, I think, about 99 acres on the Charles River. Every May we (NEU-HSA) hold an herb plant sale, then there's Society Row's sale later on in the year that's a great take, too.

My point to Mass Hort was that the Boston Flower Show shouldn't be the face of Mass Hort anymore, it should be Elm Bank. Hold the show in the warmer spring months, have more of it outdoors (if possible, they certainly have the land to devote to outdoor displays), put up the large tents that are available for delicate indoor type stuff, build up to it over a couple of years, seeing what works and what doesn't. They could easily make Elm Bank the gardening Mecca of New England.

They lose money every year on the flower show, parking is horribly expensive, and it costs the growers way too much now for forcing things into bloom - heating those greenhouses is going to hurt this winter. I don't think they had the enthusiasm anymore for those grand displays. I know I'm not very happy shelling out $12 or more to park to a parking vendor that doesn't share any of the proceeds with Mass Hort.

Mass Hort is going through some tough financial times. I hope they can pull it all together and continue along a new road that all leads to Elm Bank being the horticultural jewel it is already turning into.

 

[Rosalind]

Oooh, thank you! Wellesley is not far from me at all. That's, hmm, a 25 minute drive, maybe less if I take the back roads. Something to look forward to next spring. Do they do any special Xmas displays? I so miss the Longwood Gardens holiday displays...

I'm wondering about parking though, if you made that the main event, would Wellesley be able to support the logistics? I know when I go out to Wellesley just for shopping or whatever, I'm struggling to find parking. The nice thing about the Boston show was that I had my T pass, so I just parked at Alewife and took the T to the show, then there was the shuttle out to the Expo. If the event was held in the summer or late May, would Wellesley College be able to supply some parking space you could run a shuttle to & fro? Also, Rte 9 traffic is horrible as it is, I can't see an easy way to get a lot of people in and out of Wellesley.

Agree, forcing all that stuff is extra-spendy in this climate, with these oil prices. I can see how the Philly growers do it, they are further south and always about 10-20 degrees warmer than us in March. I don't think my southeastern PA relatives even bother to heat their greenhouses, and my uncle used to overwinter a banana tree in his...

 

[Reinbeau]

Yea, parking is an issue, mainly the access, it's basically down a little lane, over a one-car bridge, but once you're on the grounds, it's huge, there's plenty of parking. The entrance is across from the Hunnewell Farm on Route 16. The accessibility of the Bayside is the major draw, as you know.

I'm with you on the vendors, but keep in mind, they were trying to keep their nose above water, and if those vendors paid good money for the space, I'm sure Mass Hort had to take it. I've noticed a steady decline in the actual horticultural vendors, too. Not to keep going on and on about Chelsea, but I'm telling you, it's amazing, five acres of displays, heated tents for the indoor stuff, and gardening suppliers of all kinds. It was gardening heaven! Of course the whole country is gardening heaven - I would love to move to Cornwall or Devon and never leave it again

 

[Rosalind]

Yeah, I sort of figured about the vendors, I just wasn't happy about it. Sad really.

Not to make you green with envy or anything, but my DH is from Devon (South Brent) and his parents are, like, gardening masters of the universe. I think it must be genetic. If I ever wonder how to grow something, I ask his mum and she uses her Magical British Powers to figure it out. Since they lived through WWII (a Nazi pilot crash-landed in their yard) and the following economic mess, they are also all about recycling and telling me how I can build cloches, trellises, irrigation systems and cold frames for free using whatever is lying around.

*sigh* At this rate, I'll never be able to afford to travel overseas...I desperately need to see Kew Gardens before I die, too...

 

[Reinbeau]

Kew Gardens, and Sissinghurst. Those are the two I didn't see when my mother and I went there back in 1997 (I think that's when we went). We went on a Mass Hort tour of Chelsea and then southern England gardens. It was absolutely amazing.

And yes, I am green with envy - I'd be broke going over to visit my inlaws!