Hundreds of landscapers and designers are still busy building the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show, which opens this Sunday. This year's event features 13 varieties of bromeliads. In total, there are 1,600 individual bromeliads amidst the thousands of tropical plants in the themed garden-display area.

Show design director Sam Lemheney says, “We wanted the colorful impact of bromeliads to serve as the background of the Jazz It Up! motif. I’ve never worked with them at this scale or quantity, but it’s coming together spectacularly.”

Representing the University of Delaware, Joyce Zayakosky
conveys Symphony in the Garden through her entry in the
Arbors Class (Hall B). Dealing primarily in coleus and
hostas, Joyce says her biggest obstacle "is keeping the plants
warm and happy while transporting them in this frigid winter weather!"    

Romano’s Landscaping of Pitman, NJ, has a team of six landscapers working nonstop to complete its exhibit, titled Contentment. Peter Romano describes the display as a Northeast spin on a down-South swamp: “I want to make it look realistic, which requires a lot of attention to detail.”

One of the unsung heroes of the Philadelphia Flower Show is
Sonny Jordan, the man in charge of the Convention Center’s lighting design for the past 14 years. This is a major undertaking: there are more than 850 lights, 11 miles of cable, and 1,500 feet of trusses (the structural frames that hold the lights high above the Show floor).

Sonny says, “When it comes to the Flower Show, you have to be flexible. Your plan can change an any minute...even depending on what specific flower species is in bloom.”

Leo Lorenz can describe his exhibit in one word: whimsy. This is clearly seen at right in a gushing fountain made from saxophones, tubas, trombones, and other brass instruments.

Lorenz Landscape Contractors of Glenside, PA, also has a player piano that sprays music out of the top. “Overall we’re exploring what it might look like if an
eclectic music-shop
owner went mad,” Leo says with a laugh.