You can’t recreate the feeling of N’awlins without the music that makes the city soar. Each day, the Bourbon Street Stage offers live performances by the New Orleans-based Big Sam’s Funky Nation or the Hoppin' John Orchestra (pictured here).

And, as a special treat, visitors are invited to don beads and strut their stuff in “The Second Line”—a rollicking parade that snakes across the Show floor.

For Jazz It Up!, the team at Jamie Rothstein Distinctive Floral Design recreate a Greek-revivalist mansion of New Orleans’ Garden District. Titled Inside Outside, the display features both an intimate exterior space with fabulous flower arrangements, as well as a stately parlor with terrace.

“I’ve used a variety of sources for the furnishings,” Jamie says. “I borrowed the chairs from a friend’s house, and the drapes and valences come from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Can you believe they were going to throw them away?”

Burke Brothers Landscape Contractors of Wyndmoor, PA, recognizes that nothing provides relief on a hot summer night better than a swimming pool. This water feature rests among towering trees, including locust, juniper, and dawn redwood.

Kevin Burke says “I hope visitors discover that backyard pools can have a creative twist. Why limit yourself to the ordinary?”

You won’t believe what’s cooking at the Flower Show’s concourse level. Three times a day all-star celebrity chefs present free culinary classes that will have your mouth watering. Hosted by Chef Joseph E. Shilling and the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Culinary School, the series includes presentations of sassy Cuban cuisine and heart healthy vegetarian meals, among much more.

"I like to share recipes that can be easily made at home. Usually I take something basic like chicken and show three different, delicious ways to prepare it," Chef Shilling says.

The Marketplace at the
Flower Show is a shopper’s delight. There are 160 vendors selling fresh-cut flowers, tools and supplies, garden decorations, houseplants,
and more.

And how’s this for incentive: members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society receive a discount on most every item.