For many years a friend and I would brave the crowds at the New England Flower show in Boston. We would leave early, plan on having our packed lunches at the show during a lecture, and head home before rush hour. It was pretty sad when the show was no longer produced. Happily, for the last few years there has been a much smaller but much closer annual flower show in Providence…the Rhode Island Flower & Garden Show. This year its theme was “Gardening with Heart” and for the second time my eldest and I took my grandchildren for an early look at spring.
It was a fun thing to do on a rainy Friday… Mr J and Miss E enjoyed looking out at the traffic as much as the flowers…
Miss E wanted me to take a picture of her smelling every pink flower she passed…
There were hearts everywhere this year…
…including at the sand sculpture where we watched the sculptors forming the castle of Heartland…
The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society is always one of my favorite displays…it looks the closest to my backyard…
They didn’t last long at the show before tiring but someday I hope they will remember going and seeing spring blooming indoors…
After the kids left I stayed and met Mr O…so I did get a chance to check out the shops and practice taking photos with the 50mm lens which is so great in low light…
Outside a mock greenhouse/office…one of my favorite vignettes…
And inside the mock greenhouse/office…I would love this at my house, including the yellow door…
As always, the garden club displays were fun…How can you not love this bathing suit floral arrangement!
We may be half way through March but I visited the flower show in February and I have been meaning to share this poem since February…it is almost spring but it is still appropriate here in RI…
February: Thinking of Flowers
Now wind torments the field,
turning the white surface back
on itself, back and back on itself,
like an animal licking a wound.
Nothing but white--the air, the light;
only one brown milkweed pod
bobbing in the gully, smallest
brown boat on the immense tide.
A single green sprouting thing
would restore me. . . .
Then think of the tall delphinium,
swaying, or the bee when it comes
to the tongue of the burgundy lily.
10 comments:
You had me with Jane Kenyon...
and I want that little greenhouse/office!
What a wonderful thing to share with your grandchildren.. just wonderful.
Ah, Jane Kenyon... her words lift! And so do these floral photos, Oliag! Love the leaf & flower bikini! ;o) Your grands are just adorable... too cute! Thanks for taking us along... Happy Days ((HUGS))
Love that Jane Kenyon poem..it is perfect for the type of winter we had!
Your grandchildren looks so sweet sitting by the tulips! The Rhode Island Flower & Garden show looked like a very good introduction to Spring!
I am sooo loving E's boots! I can't believe how much they've grown this winter! Just like mine. David's grandma always said we needed to put bricks on top of their heads to keep them from growing so fast. :)
Lovely flowers! Columbus just had it's Home and Garden Show last weekend. I went once a couple years ago and it was nice, but a lot smaller than I expected...maybe the economy? And the venue was way too small for the crowds. I felt a little suffocated.
I love the dragon and sand castle, but that greenhouse office is 'da bomb!
something for everyone at this show!! i agree with you about the office with the yellow door and of course the "blooms" pf grandkids and flowers is a joy..they will probably remember parts of it...what a memory for you though
The inside of that greenhouse office is to die for!!! I would feel so inspired to work there. Got to love the floral bikini....so creative. Glad you guys got to go to the show.
Gorgeous photos. I've never been to the show, but you gave me the bug.
And so, I keep learning the ways of grandmothering from you. How sweet they are, in their sitting and sniffing. Oh my.
I can't take my eyes off the bikini. What perfect brooches those sempervivum make. :-)
Well, and what can I say about Jane Kenyon? I admire her simple way with words that belies where they take us. And this one reminds me of my little aconite flower, rising in February, warm in the snow bed.
I've got Jane Kenyon here on my desk, as we "speak". Lovely photos. I adore winter, but I'm actually looking forward to spring.
That sand sculpture is absolutely incredible. And that bikini is cracking me up!
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