R.I. flower show offers a colorful escape from winter

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 19, 2004

BY KATHERINE IMBRIE
Journal Staff Writer

Spring has sprung -- at least it has inside Providence's Rhode Island Convention Center, where 45,000 square feet of exhibition space is abloom with more than a half-million flowers today through Sunday.

The event is the 11th annual Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, a much-beloved foretaste of the real spring that is still weeks away. The Providence flower show gets the jump on the older and larger one at Boston's Bayside Expo Center by about a month.

"It works pretty well for everybody, because we can get the things [from flower growers] that are ready to show earlier than expected, and Boston can get the ones that are late," says show designer Michelle Sousa.

The smaller scale of the Providence show means that it can fit well into a day trip to the city, adds Sousa: "People can go to the show, then visit the mall or see other things in the city."

The Boston show, by contrast, is so large and often so crowded that a visit to it pretty much takes a whole day.

Even as the finishing touches were being put on the show's 30 display gardens yesterday afternoon, the excitement of opening night was already in the air, along with the pungent scent of hundreds of mounds of fresh pine-bark mulch.

The theme of this year's show is "A Garden Retreat," so each of the display gardens includes some kind of structure, anything from a replica of an old-fashioned garden shop (Metamorphosis Design, of Tiverton), to a stick teepee (New England Botanical Gardens, at Roger Williams Park, Providence), to a miniaturized train shed (Five Star Landscaping, Providence).

The train exhibit -- sure to be one of the most popular at this year's show -- features a pair of model trains that run on tracks around a landscaped exhibit garden that includes tiny trees and toy buildings. (For a better idea of how the combo works, visit www.trainsandtrees.com.)

"The trains were last here in 1996," said Charles Carberry, the show's floral director. "They were a huge hit -- so much so that the company now is taking bookings a year in advance."

For the second year in a row, Rhode Island's flower show coincides with school vacation week, and Carberry said that's one of the reasons for a special emphasis on child-friendly and interactive exhibits.

Among them is a creative display by Shareen Zaki, director of education at the New England Botanical Gardens at Roger Williams Park. In fact, there's a lot here to intrigue both children and adults: in front of a shed-like classroom space, the skeleton form of a teepee has been erected (by volunteers in the AmeriCorps national service program).

"The idea is that children can use this structure as a basis to make their own fort out of banners and other materials that we have prepared for them," explained Zaki. "There was a study out of Norway recently that found that children actually get more out of the building of a fort than they do out of having one ready made. They can decorate it and make it their own."

Another part of the display showcases the world of carnivorous plants, including the famous Venus Fly-Traps that trap and consume insects. Still another section is an active compost bin full of worms and dirt. Children can touch and observe to learn first-hand how worms work to turn garbage into compost. And while the show is open, there will be art students from Rhode Island School of Design painting in one part of the garden and a yoga teacher demonstrating positions in another.

"The idea we wanted to get across is that gardens can be thought of as unconventional classrooms," said Zaki. "Because of the serenity they offer, we have a chance to explore our creative side -- something we don't do enough these days."

Carberry said if there is one unifying trend he has seen in this year's flower show, it is toward more vivid colors: "I think that, especially after this winter, people are really looking for color.

"This show has always been so beloved because it is an escape from winter. It's not a trade show: It's visual entertainment that feeds all of your senses and just makes you feel good."

Hours for the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show are today through Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tickets are $14 weekdays, $15 weekends for adults; children ages 6-12 $7, under 6, free.

Today and tomorrow only, shuttle buses will circulate from the parking lots at Roger Williams Park Zoo between 9:15 a.m. and 7 p.m. Parking in the lots costs $3.

For more information about the show, call (401) 421-7811 or visit www.flowershow.com

Fertile ground for garden inspiration

Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show, Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin St., Providence. (401) 421-7811; www.flowershow.com. Today through Feb. 22. Today-Sat 10 am-9 pm, Sun 10 am-6 pm. $14 weekdays, $15 weekends; children 6-12 $7, children under 6 free, $1 discount for elderly; $11 for groups of 20 or more. Evening wine tastings, Sat 6-9 pm, $20.