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The Old Sod Blooms at Philly Flower Show  By
John Kernaghan
It wasn’t merely the classic ‘bit of the auld sod’
when the Legends of Ireland commanded center stage at the Philadelphia
Flower Show in early March. It was an attempt by North America’s
largest garden showcase (and at 178 years, the world’s longest running)
to mirror the Irish landscape as well as polished gardens in an indoor
setting.
Some 258,000 visitors (up 18,000 from 2006) were enchanted with the concept
guest designer Chris Woods and permanent director Sam Lemheney conceived.
“We roamed the countryside and visited gardens and tried for a synopsis
of 400 years of Irish garden design,” said Woods, the British-born
horticulturalist, who brought his life-long love of Ireland to the show.
“We wanted a weaving of Ireland’s long history of gardens,
arts and crafts.” He also hoped for a show that mirrored “the
vibrancy of the Irish people. Ireland is one of the most civilized places
on Earth,” he said.
Woods is director of VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, moving there
after finding another Irish passion. “I fell in love with an Irish
woman.”
The centerpiece, which told the story of Tir-Na-nÓg, the land of
the young, through Celtic gardens, music and entertainment, evoked an
“emotional response” said Lemheney. It played to myth and
imagination with a ‘living” archway
featuring flowers, ferns and artfully woven tree limbs inspired by art
from the Book of Kells at the Ealain Wood, where ‘creatures’
roamed under giant trees and flutes and harps trilled.
“It’s hard to depict the old oak woodlands or beech trees
of Kerry in fabric but we hoped for a sense of scale,” said Woods,
who toured gardens like Powerscourt and Mount Stewart for inspiration
for the formal garden portions of the show.
Beyond the wood was a magnificent courtyard and the Knot Garden, shimmering
with crystals and flowers and flanked by two 40-foot waterways with spiral
fountains and Celtic banners.
This formal setting provided a grand platform for the Castle of the Emerald
Kingdom, an estate with tiered garden, turrets and towers. Inside, performances
of traditional Irish music were staged.
A favorite display, the “Rose of Glendalough” by Celtic Gardens
of Dexter, MI in which designers recreated the haunting ruins of the 13th-century
St. Kevin’s chapel in Wicklow, won the horticultural society’s
Best in Show. Other highlights were: thirty varieties of Irish Ivy at
the American Ivy Society’s exhibit; Burke Brothers’ tranquil
golf course and lush green vistas; an Irish garden of golden plants by
Stoney Bank Nurseries. Entertainment at the garden showcase included performances
of Ragus, and noted Irish garden author Helen Dillon was on hand to dispense
her expertise.
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