The Last Hoorah!

Well, as we all know all good things must come to an end!  Today I am blogging on the last few hours of the wonderfully successful Boston Flower Show and the teardown of the BRANCHING OUT show garden.  We have been notified that we have won the Massachusetts Horticulture award for Best Design by a School–pretty exciting for a brand new exhibitor.  Sunday, March 21st was the last day and the show was open till 6:30pm.  After that, the show moves out the vendors first–for obvious reasons, last in first out. So even though we can move some things out on carts we have to really wait till the vendors have cleared the space– a somewhat ardous wait.  We have chosen to move the items that can go in cars out first, planters, containers, chairs, sculpture etc. The main move will come early on Monday when we can bring in the trucks to move the big trees and plants.  Some of the items we have been able to sell to recoup some of the costs.  The show reimburses the exhibitors according to the sq. footage.  It is sad to see the pavilion come apart–it was so pretty!  The trees are thinking –what the heck –it’s cold outside and we are all moving a little slow to take this wonderful exhibit apart.  The mulch actually stays and the show will remove it from the exhibit.  We’ve rented a truck to remove everything else and will say goodbye to the Seaport Trade Center!

We’ve had the ride of a lifetime and we are glad that you have taken it with us.  We wish the 2011 graduates of The Garden Design School much success as they take on the opportunity at the 2012 Boston Flower Show!!

Thanks for following us on the journey.

KIm

All these plants need to go in that truck! Okkkay

What a mess!

Who's taking all the Ajuga and what do we do with all these pallets!

I need more boxes--running out of space-who bought all these plants?

Thank you--Angela Rose--we love you!

Our Fearless Leader--one more for the road

So pretty--too bad it has to come apart!

The award we've all been waiting for--Hooray

In Full Bloom

After lunch on Tuesday we all crashed for a few hours–much needed sleep.  The preview party began at 5:30-wow how a shower can help–everyone is looking lovely.  Fun to chat with other exhibitors and see all the fabulous displays. We also enjoyed a little time amongst ourselves-now that the hard work is over!  Rave reviews from judges and the other exhibitors on our garden and our tenacity to take on a project of this magnitude–naivety is a wonderful thing.

The show opened to the public today!  Watering is allowed between 6-8am.  Really a nice quiet time before the crowds arrive.  The show is open from 9am-8pm and we will be maning our exhibit through Sunday so we can answer any questions.  The visitors seem to be very pleased with our exhibit–they like the sustainability and the affordability as well as the calmness it seems to evoke.  All the goals we were trying to achieve!  It’s fun when a plan comes together. This has been a journey for all of us that began way back in August 2009 when we all arrived at Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Mass. to begin the first class of the Garden Design School UK/USA–all of us a little nervous about everything!  We met Moira and Rob and became classmates for 9 months.  After many long days and lots of learning we graduated  from Garden Design School and were presented the opportunity as invited participants of The Boston Flower Show for 2011.  We began preparing in December and now we’ve completed our vision!  As a matter of fact, the Boston Flower Show has invited Garden Design School students to participate with show gardens for year to come!!  What an honor.

The below pictures are of our display and at the bottom there is a link to view the images of the other wonderful garden displays.  Many of the exhibitors have done this show for over 30 years!

Enjoy, Kim

Angela after a long nights work

 

 

Partners in Crime

Thanks, Linda

Finishing touches

OH LA LA

The view from the front

Where are the final planters?

It's for real

Who made the beautiful sculpture--can I touch?

The band of thieves--from right to left-Lauren, Tom, Kim, Rob and Joanne

Below are random pictures from the show–other exhibits and gardens-Enjoy!

Partners in Crime

Please click on the Page

Dear Everyone,

I thought I posted all the wonderful pictures from the show today but after little sleep when I checked I realized I posted to a page and not the blog–you can access all the goodies if you click on the It’s Showtime title under pages on the right hand side.

Enjoy–there are some great pictures.

Kim

Under Construction

Today is March 13th and we began our show garden yesterday!  Pete, my husband and I (KIm)  arrived at the Seaport Trade Center yesterday at noon for our 1:00 checkin in time. Felt a little overwhelming when we walked in.  Pretty big facility and our exhibit is just right of the main entrance–nothing like being front and center!  Not for the faint of heart!  Hard to believe that we are finally here.  Met Carolyn Weston, the show supervisor.  She was very helpful-and showed us the perimeter of our exhibit–the corners are marked with white paint.  Looks just like we expected 546 sq feet. Both Lauren and Larry arrived at 1:00–drove right in and we began to unload- wheelbarrows, all the containers, tools, chairs, on and on. Some of our plants have arrived and they look AWESOME–those little boxwood are so cute.  SOO much fun to see Lauren again–she has been the rock that has kept us on task.  Tom and his wife Linda arrived from Columbus and Joanne and her friend Alex came with more supplies.  Alex began to cut the wood to frame our exhibit -the kickboard will be 12″ tall and eventually hold all the mulch and the plants. Tom and Lauren went to get the outline plan that Tom had finished so we can frame the paths and planters.  Once the exhibit is framed it’s time to put the plastic down so the water for the plants won’t go everywhere.  We staple the plastic to the top of the kickboard. Now we will work on staining the kickboard and the planter boxes–let’s make sure we get all the nail holes filled.

The big question right now is when to have the mulch delivered–never doing this before it is hard to guess what the right time is.  We all agree to have it delivered early in the morning and will be back again on Sunday to continue!

Must tell you that this whole experience is amazing–it is crazy what the other exhibits look like and what others are bringing in for their gardens. There are numerous bobcats moving huge rocks and stones–even a crane lifting a tree house and it’s roof way up in the air!  We can see some water features coming together and one exhibit is using thin sections of  logs as their flooring and kickboard–very cool. Pete has been videotaping and I will post that as soon as I can so you can see what we are seeing and experienceing.

So today is Sunday and when we arrived we were greeted by 5 enormous piles of mulch–what do we do with all of this.  Maybe we over ordered!!!!  OK so now comes the hard work–we have to get at least half out of the exhibit before we can move forward–where are the rakes, buckets, shovels–let’s go!  Once the mulch is out we start to locate the placement of the birches.  These plants are our structural plants and will anchor the bamboo pavillion that will be joining us tomorrow.  The trees are still with Sandy Heimlich–he wanted them to stay in the greenhouse as long as possible so they would hopefully leaf out since they have been a little stubborn, so far. We begin to organize the Thuga plicata, they will have a planter around them and the boxwoods will flow around the planters.  Lauren and Joanne have picked up more plants from the flower market and we will continue to place plants and look forward to the ones coming from Sandy tomorrow.

ANGELA has also arrived today–Yipee–she is lovely and we are excited for her energy and enthusiasm.  She has jumped right in and is beginning to create her work of art.  She is very excited by our color palette which is beautiful shades of green and white.  The tubing looks fabulous against the backdrop. She is working on making the flowers first and then will bend the tubing in and out of our exhibit.

We will meet again tomorrow when Larry and his crew will arrive to help with stone work an other construction details!  Stay tuned the party’s just starting.  Enjoy the photos.

KIm

Measure twice--cut once

Alex, what do you think

How much plastic do we need

We need to moisten the moss

Thank goodness for Alex

What do you think?

What is all this stuff

OMG--How much did we order?

Angela has arrived!

Oh my-What have we done--did we really order all this mulch! They must of given us extra.

REALLY

Angela and Mary Beth hard at work

Tom and Lauren--want more mulch?

Taking Shape

Moving In

Just the beginning

Please come to Boston……

Please Come to Boston…. for the Boston Flower Show

Today is March 10th and we are counting the days till we begin on Saturday–if I (Kim) am thinking clearly we have 2 days left and LOTS of work to do.  We are making a list of things we need which gets longer by the minute–we currently have added 2 channel locks, a 1/2″ and 3/4″ emt bender (anyone have any idea what that is?) all for Angela Rose’s part of the project.  She also needs 10′ lengths of electrical metallic tubing and short lengths of rebar!!!  It will be amazing to see her create this wonderful sculpture from some very interesting materials.  I guess that’s why we call her an artist. Angela arrives in Boston on Friday and will begin work on Sunday after we get the base and liner and plants installed. We will determine on site the height, anchor points and paint options.  Stay tuned as this comes together!

Lauren and her dear friend, Beth Hurley, worked on planting 4 of our large containers on Monday. Beth opened up her home for planting purposes.  They made a mess in Beth’s house and she is ‘babysitting’ the containers till the show. Thank you–Thank you, Beth.  Lauren’s neighbor at the Cape gave her some crazy-fun curly willow branches from her yard to use in the containers–a little reminiscent of Angela’s sculpture.  They also incorporated some Quince branches with the Hellebore and used the sage, lavender, oregano, thyme and rosemary donated by Kathy Schofield-thanks again. A few of  the strawberries have been added as well as the figs.  They sound stunning!  Joanne will be working her magic on the other 4 pots–we will anxiously await there arrival.

Tom and I will both arrive this weekend ready to work–both our spouses have graciously offered to accompany us and lend a hand wherever needed–even if it is only for moral support.  There will be plenty of jobs for everyone!

Larry and Alex are still working on the construction components of the exhibit.  We trust they know what they are doing and they promise us that all will be fine.  As with the other parts of the show garden, the construction details take a lot of time and planning–who is bringing what materials, do they need to be painted or stained before they get there, how long will it take to put it together–on and on.

This show garden has been a labor of love from a lot of people–we thank everyone who has donated time, plants, materials and support–it truly takes a village to pull this off!

Stay tuned–the next post will be from the show while we are under construction.

Thank you for the water, Beth

Ready for the Party!

Looking GOOOD

OO LA LA

Got my DANCING shoes on

Starting to Bloom

Wow, what a difference a a day makes!  The Association of Landscape Designers, APLD, has announced that the Branching Out blog is their featured blog for March. We are VERY EXCITED to be noticed by such a great organization. Christine Wilke, who is helping us with PR, has been contacted by  UK Garden Design Journal.  They hope to run an article about us at the BFS and would like us to send them a copy of our design.  Things are really starting to ramp up and our exhibit is beginning to be noticed not only nationally but internationally as well.

Everyone is concentrating on their specific tasks.  Joanne and Lauren are securing the last necessary plants for the containers and working on planting them up so they will have time to root in. Chris Lambert’s Greenhouse in Berlin MA. is donating space for the Ohio plants.  Thanks, Chris!  Kathy Schofield, a current Garden Design School student, recently drove to Connecticut to pick up 5 flats of edible ornamentals, lettuce and herbs, for our containers–she even donated them to us–Kathy you are wonderful!  Tom is working on finalizing the planting plan with the plants that are in the greenhouses and the others we have chosen.  Lauren continues to work on organizing the construction crew and the schedule for the show and I am working on continuing to get the word out.

Angela Rose is finalizing the sculpture and is excited to add her expertise to our display.  Her installations in the past have brought a feeling of peace and movement to their surroundings and we are hoping for the same!  As you can learn from her website http://www.angelarose.org she has  a way of showing love and care in all her works. We look forward to the beauty her work will add to our exhibit. How can you go wrong with Peace and Love!

Stay tuned-the excitement continues–11 days till opening day!  Are we CRAZY yet.

Will we really be able to eat these someday? Edibles for our containers

Kathy Schofield--in the greenhouse with the edibles--THANK YOU

Coming Alive!

Will I be big enough to be picked?

Strawberry fields forever!

What a beautiful piece of art!

Meet the Artist--Angela Rose

Growing Up

Well, I apologize it has taken me so long to post–technical difficulties with my computer!   Anyway, we are all glad that Tom arrived safely in Boston and was reportedly waiting in his car with the heat on so the plants wouldn’t get cold for Lauren at Tower Hill.  She was so proud of him being– such a good caretaker. He did a great job transporting!  The plants spent some time in Lauren’s paneled room and now have moved to Chris Lambert’s greenhouse.  Kathy Schofield will help us to take care of them at Chris’s till they are planted for the show

Tom, Lauren and Joanne worked through a lot of details on Thursday night.  They updated the plant list, which continues to change as we work on our containers and fill-ins.  Of course, every change puts us a little more over budget–surprise, surprise.  We hope to sell off some of the big plants and the containers to help with the short fall.  We have to coordinate our plant delivery with the convention center and Sandy Heimlich–everyone seems very calm about this–why aren’t we?  Joanne has just accquired some Bamboo plants from a nursery in Rockport–very exciting! She also found some fabulous benches–she is hoping to beg or borrow from them, if she can. The other plants continue to grow at the greenhouse and  Lauren went on Friday to beautify them by trimming the dead out and fluffing where needed.  One can never be toooo pretty!

The sculpture work with Angela also continues to morph.  The arms attached to the pavillion have been abandoded for a sculpture on the ground.  Joanne just sent a fabulous sketch today of her vision of this sculpture.  Angela has been great to work with and just wants to create a work of art that will compliment our whole design.

We’re getting ready to order our mulch–amazingly we need 26 yards. Hard to believe that we will use that much.  It is delivered to us right at the convention center exhibit site by their contractors.

Alex, Joanne’s friend, has agreed (she isn’t sure if he would put it that way) to make the planters for the arborvitae and then we will paint them black–very cost effective for such big plants.  We are also working on what equipment we need to build this wonderful project.  The pavilion will be built off site and brought in partially complete but the other things will be done on site.  Hammers, nails and drills-oh my.  Lauren and Larry will work on that this weekend. We can begin to move in at 1pm on Sat. March 12th and will work as long as we can–physically and mentally.  Then we can come back at 7am on the 13th.  Set up continues on the 14th but nothing more can be moved in.  All exhibitors must be gone by 11:30 on the 15th and judging takes place from 12:30-3:30–that will be a scary time!!!  Also Lauren is working on a schedule of people including the Garden Design School current students to help with staffing during show times.  We are hopeful to have 2 people at all times on 4-6 hour shifts to staff during the show. We will also need help with Moving Out day as well–soooo sad!

Christine Wilke from the UK has written a wonderful PR release.  We sent  it out last week on Valentines Day to as many publications as we could find who might be interested in carrying our story.  We hope SOMEONE will be interested.  This is such a rare opportunity for novice designers and a great way to see the behind the scenes workings of a show of this size.

Well for now that is all–we continue to tweak, add, subtract and work hard to be sure this exhibit displays our talents.

Stay tuned for more to come as we begin the countdown–17 days till we begin construction! YIKES

 

The Figs have arrived--safe and sound

You brought me up here for this--I need my bamboo!

Tom, Joanne, Design and Wine--what a combination

Beginning to Sprout

Ok–hard to believe we have  only 4 weeks left till we begin construction!  OMG.

Well lots of things are beginning to fall into place and  we are slowly working our way through others. Last week one of the greenhouses that is holding plants for the BFS collapsed due to the snow–luckily our plants were in a different greenhouse!!!   The plants are all fine and Joanne and Lauren inspected them today.  They are growing –hopefully fast enough to be ready by March 11th.  How fast does a plant grow every day?  Time will tell–hopefully fast enough to be ready by March 15th for our debut!!.

Tom is driving to Boston this week and will meet with Joanne and Lauren to iron out more construction details. Alex and Larry, who are helping us with the construction, will meet soon to finalizes the the list of additional materials, such as lumber for the base and plastic for under the plants.  We will be ordering our mulch–we have to order from the show because it has to be delivered to our exhibit by union employees–actually everything has to be delivered to the exhibit by them.  We can get it to the loading dock and they take over after that!  We still have to finalize our material for our paths and a few other minor details–we really like the idea of pine needle mulch for our paths.

The containers have arrived–as you saw in the last post–they are now living in Lauren’s basement-waiting for their time to shine.  Lauren and Joanne have been searching nurseries in Boston and Connecticut to find our edible ornamentals for the containers. I am (Kim)  picking up some figs and other edible ornamentals from northern Ohio and will take them to Tom who will transport them to Boston this week.  I will also leave him with some other items that might come in handy when we put the display together–you never know when folding bamboo chairs or a zinc candelabra will come in handy!!  Tom drive safely–you have important cargo.

Angela Rose is continuing to work on the sculpture for the exhibit–this is going to be made of galvanized tubing and should look fantastic with our sleek, black containers and our bamboo–very exciting.

Christine Wilke from UK has written a great PR piece for us and our ‘BRANCHING OUT’ exhibit.  The PR announcement will go out to a number of publications on Monday.  We are hopeful that people will find this opportunity as exciting as we are!

Below you will find some pictures of our plants at the greenhouse and Tom’s car loaded for the journey to Boston.

Things are ramping up fast–we hope we can keep up!!  Say a little prayer that this all comes together–we are!

Grow Baby Grow

Leaves--PLEASE

Aren't they cute

Miles and Miles of Heuchera

Please take good care of our plants!

Go Girls Go

Packing the car

The man of the hour--drive safely--you have precious cargo

There might not be room for Tom!!!

Our containers arrive! Too bad the snow came with them!

Rooting In

Hard to believe another week has gone by!  We have been diligently working on securing plant material for the exhibit–way behind the curve on this part.  Since we have never done this before we had no idea of what to expect–needless to say it has come with some surprise that we should have organized plants many moons ago.  Everyone has been really great working with us and we have had to be flexible with plant availability.  We changed our planting plan and have reorganized around the available plant material and the time to force plants for the show.  We have organized the nurseries to get the products that need to be forced to the greenhouses.  Of course the tremendous amount of  snow in Boston has also made life more challenging–who would expect EPIC snowfall when we are trying to get organized for our big debut!

We have also been working on the details of the exhibit–all the plant names including latin names and quantities had to be turned into the show.  All of our sponsors and all of our thank you’s as well. A pretty big task that Lauren coordinated effortlessly.

This week we enlisted Angela Rose -a very well recognized artist and sculpture–to help us with some iron work to embellish our display.  She was introduced to us by a current Garden Design School student and we are very excited to have her join our team.  She is very creative and we look forward to her sculpture and iron work to add an element of style to our “Branching Out” exhibit.

Our construction gurus are busy discussing how we will construct our bamboo pavillion and all the other construction details–this will be scary with Lauren, Kim and Joanne with hammers –WATCH OUT–should we give  these women tools!  Tom is really excited to be the leader of this section and help guide us through to completion.

We are beginning to ‘root in’ and  will continue to move forward to securing all our plants, buying our containers and refining our exhibit.  The next weeks will be busy and will go quickly–stay tuned as we continue our journey!