The Rhode Island Flower & Garden Show (www.flowershow.com) provides a variety of entertainment while performing its basic mission, preparing the home gardener/residential landscaper for the coming season. With over 30 display gardens, nearly 300 retail exhibitors and 200 amateur garden exhibits on three indoor acres, everything from Audubon Society to Zen Gardens is displayed in neatly organized, spacious settings.

The huge, breathtaking landscape displays hit you immediately upon entering the main exhibit hall, complete with live trees, rock and masonry walls and running streams. Preserved animals roam the artificial countryside, sipping re-circulated water and looking curiously at the passerby with truly glassy gazes. Blending the surreal with the commercial, one attendee was overheard discussing the relative merits and potential costs of placing stuffed deer in her yard (these items were not offered for sale), and whether near sighted hunters might shoot at them.

For a relatively small city, Providence once again shows its cultural depth in this show. The detailed, beautiful landscapes played out in full scale on the main floor are a testament to the taste and talent of local, Rhode Island based landscaping firms. Although not as audacious or grandiose as displays in the major cities, there is a proud comfort in the style reflected in these assemblies of rock, water, soil and plants that speak with a distinctive Rhode Island identity. Another advantage of attending a local show is the preponderance of the exhibitors to cater to the local climate and vegetation. This allows the serious local gardener to see real world results, quite inspiring for those currently buried under more than a foot of fresh snow.

There is also ample opportunity for local small businesses to offer their wares to an interested, niche audience. For these firms, shows like this are the main marketing opportunities for the season. Critical to their success is the public goodwill established by the proprietors’ image and personality expressed throughout the show. Casual observation revealed these professionals acting relaxed, friendly and helpful, offering advice and good natured encouragement to attendees, even when they were clearly not potential customers for a particular service.

This is a well run show, with a personality of its own, instilling a sense of community, instead of competition, among the participants.

Besides the demonstrations, lectures and competitive awards, activities include family oriented storytelling, scheduled wine tasting and a great variety of available food. Live pan pipes provide an unexpected sonic backdrop to the requisite small commercial booths of nail painting, massages and local banks. Fortunately, these non-garden booths are kept to a reasonable minimum, allowing full enjoyment of the aesthetics of various lawn treatments available.

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Although there is a clear commercial intent with shows like this, it is heartening to see the generosity displayed by the American Society of Landscape Architects, who sponsor personal consultations with specialists for those enthusiasts with particular agendas for improving the quality of their gardens and yards. There is also a general feeling of good will and patient contentment throughout the show, possibly a byproduct of the meditative activity of working so closely with nature and plants.

The orchids are always gorgeous, with sensuous textures and colors unique in the flower world. One of the enjoyable facets of the show, however, is the celebration of nature in all its forms, from the rocks and sand (and shaping thereof, from the Japanese traditions) to trees bred for color and shape befitting a particular landscape. Even choice of the proper teddy bear for miniature formal garden teas is given the full attention it deserves, with prizes for the best lawn dining setting displayed most entertainingly.

The Convention Center itself is an excellent venue for such a large and diverse show, providing the space and pacing needed for one to enjoy the exhibits without excessive crowding. Parking is ample, augmented by the nearby Providence Place Mall.

All in all, the Rhode Island Flower & Garden Show provides all the information needed to prepare the interested homeowner/gardener for the season, while giving families or casual visitors plenty to see and do to justify the admission and make a lovely day of it.

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