“Thank Goodness It’s Friday”…and this time next week (June 23rd, to be exact) the Newport Flower Show will start. If you haven’t already made plans to attend, let me tempt you with some unforgettable images and sizzly factoids from past shows.
The setting is equal to none for a flower show in this country — ocean views, a famous Newport mansion (“The Great Gatsby” was filmed here) and 80 high end boutiques.
Not to mention elegant gardens and statuary…
You probably didn’t know that:
Beginner’s luck? A hurricane swept through the grounds on the Saturday of the first Newport Flower Show, in 1996, but hardy staff and volunteers pulled everything together to re-open, on time, on Sunday.
Floral exhibitors have to be in Rosecliff and constructing their designs at 5:00AM; judging starts at 8:00AM. Many intrepid exhibitors drive in from Connecticut and Boston, a few hours away.
It took approximately 70 pineapples to create the dragon (seen here on Rosecliff’s dining room table) that Barbara King designed way back when…and which stole the Show!
Some of the notable speakers for the lecture/luncheon on Saturday have been Sylvia Weinstock, the queen of wedding cakes (the dessert that day was a mini, white nougatine cake of her design); David Howard, Prince Charles’s former head gardener at Highgrove; Ron Morgan, San Francisco’s floral arranger extraordinaire and author of four books; Tony Avent, famed plantsman and owner of Plant Delights nursery in North Carolina and Hitomi Gilliam, an innovative floral artist who enjoys an international status (image below).
There are more than 350 cut specimen entries judged and exhibited on the expansive terrace off Rosecliff’s ballroom.
The scrumptious sherbet Mary McFadden silk-pleated dresses that were backdrops and inspirations for the ballroom class are from the costume collection of the Preservation Society of Newport County (presenters of the Newport Flower Show).
Hope to see you at the Newport Flower Show!
I am so excited to be heading to Newport for the GCA Visiting Gardens tour and am looking forward to attending the Newport Flower Show. I’ve been poring over your first book on private gardens and just can’t wait to see all of the sites lined up for us on the tour. See you there!
See you at the Show, Marsha!
Thanks Bettie! My good friend, Clare Stewart (from Baltimore) will be coming for the first time this year to judge in Horticulture, so I hope you will keep an eye out for her, as I know you’ll enjoy meeting her.
Cheers,
Susan
Thanks, Susan,for letting me know!
Exquisite.
R.
Did you get any shots of the peacocks at this years show? They were at the photo booth gazebo.