Moving a giant waterlily

2010victoria1
Originally uploaded by lb_philly.

How do you move a giant tropical waterlily thirty miles in a snowstorm? Here is the first of eight photos documenting the process. I actually shot about 40 but these pretty much tell the story. The lily was packed in an insulated plywood box, covered with wet sphagnum and then plastic wrap. When the time came to install it in the Explorer's Garden pond, it took four people, two in waders -- one to hold the plant itself and one to hold each of three big leaves on panels of insulated foam. Slots were cut in each panel (as you see here) to make room for the stems.

You can listen to an entry on the lily by dialing 610-717-5599 and entering 457 # at the prompt. I doubt the number will persist for long after the Flower show. Philadelphia International Flower Show, February 25, 2010.

Training for the Flower Show

office_protea
Originally uploaded by lb_philly.

The alarm went off at 5:30 but I smacked it twice...got up at 5:50...drank coffee and updated the tour guide wiki until 6:45, then dressed and groomed in a fast hurry, hopped on my bike and was on the show floor at 7:25. If it had been a tour day, I would have had no time to play on the floor before my tour people got there.

But it wasn't a tour day, although it was a day that the doors open at 8:00 a.m. Still, I was able to photograph Bill Shaffer's "Polar Fantasy" exhibit in some detail, then sprint over to the floral arrangements to grab record-purpose shots of all the entries, which I'm not at all sure I want to continue doing every time they change over (four changes in the course of the show). Maybe, maybe not.

The miniatures I thought would win in the Saturday judging won.

I spent some time on the show floor after the hordes came in, watching the showgoers and taking several pictures of crowds, plus pictures of people taking pictures.

Tomorrow I have to be up and out for real. Whee...