A Winter Respite III

Boston had an inch of rain last night.  That soaking, coupled with temperatures in the 40s, has produced a landscape of ugly, brown snow banks and six-inch-deep puddles that coat all cars with grey grime.  In a word, ugh.

I have spent the past four days at the Seaport World Trade Center creating a small taste of spring.  In 1200 square feet, Paul Miskovsky has created a vignette of an idyllic May day in the country, complete with chickens.  His small crew, aided and abetted by a phalanx of Master Gardeners, built the display between Saturday morning and Tuesday noon.  And, right up until Carolyn Weston shooshed everyone off the floor in advance of the judges, we were primping and grooming plants, spreading compost and removing anything that had even a whiff of imperfection.

That's Paul Miskovsky, sweeping the
area around the exhibit before
sweeping the awards

Being only a Master Gardener Groupie, my job was spreading mulch (Saturday), hauling plants (Sunday), lifting plants (Monday) and spreading compost (Tuesday).  But I can point to the exhibit and say that I had a hand in it.

Tuesday evening, we all gathered together for a quiet party in the exhibit: a well-deserved celebration.  Paul's exhibit fairly well swept the awards, including 'Best of Show', the topmost one.

If you live within a few hour's drive of Boston and desperately need proof that the wet, dreary winter is almost at an end, please go to the Boston Flower & Garden Show.  It is a marvelous event.  Paul's exhibit is just one of two dozen such vignettes.  There are also stunning floral design competition, a knock-your-socks-off photography competitions, rooms full of amateur horticulture (including a blue ribbon croton from Betty Sanders), and vendors selling everything under the sun that has anything to do with gardening.

These photos were all taken on Tuesday at noon.  They show the exhibit as it was just before judging, with everything designed to be at the peak of horticultural perfection.  Double-click on any photo to see it at full-screen size.