Boston Flower Show
Circa 2011

2011 Boston Flower & Garden Show:

• Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Boulevard, Boston

Dates:

• Preview Party: Tuesday, March 15, 7-9 PM
• Wednesday, March 16 through Saturday, March 19, 9 AM – 8 PM
• Sunday, March 20, 9 AM – 6 PM

Tickets:
·        $20 for adults
·        $17 for seniors (65+) 
·        $10 for children ages 6-17
·        Children under age 6 admitted free
·        Group rates for 20 or more at $16 per ticket

2011 Boston Flower & Garden Show

The 2011 Boston Flower & Garden Show is delighted to announce this year's show theme, which will explore every facet of one of the most popular and enjoyable gardening trends around… 

"A Burst of Color: Celebrating the Container Garden"

Container gardening has exploded out of the humble window box to become the hottest way to add vibrancy, warmth, and drama to any size space  – a sunny welcome on a city terrace, a gourmet harvest in a suburban side yard,  or a fresh focal point for a mature landscape.  This year’s show will focus on this popular trend by mixing examples of the endless creative possibilities of containers into all of its gardens and special displays.  

• Each garden will feature at least one significant container of some kind (formal urns, topiary, raised beds, built-in planters, ceramics, vertical gardens, unusual items re-purposed as containers).
• A non-judged Invitational Display will feature container entries by invited Professional Florists & Interior Landscapers.
• “Contain Yourself!” This series of daily hands-on workshops will offer instruction and a take-home container project for participants (additional fee).

In addition to these elements, you’ll find hundreds of new products to buy, over 48 hours of lectures and demonstrations, cutting edge designs by professional florists and the region’s top amateur floral arrangers and horticulturists assembled in a vibrant display by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts Inc.

Please join us March 16-20, 2011 as the tradition continues!

Box Office closes 1 hour prior to the end of the Show each day.

Feel free to bring your camera and video recorder down to the show! There are lots of great photo opportunities and pictures will help later on as you plan your new garden!

Package and Coat Check is available. There are a limited number of wheelchairs available on a first come first serve basis.

EventsPreview Party: Tuesday, March 15, 5:30-8:00 PM
A benefit for the City of Boston Parks Department and beautification efforts citywide.  Tickets now on sale at www.cityofboston.gov/parks

Press Day: Tuesday, March 15, 3:00-5:00 PM

DiscountsGroup discount tickets with a savings of $4.00 off the adult admission price of $20 are available for advance purchase (deadline March 4th) in quantities of 20 or more (minimum order $300.00).  A brochure with more infromation is attached below, as well as the order form. Simply print out the order form and return via fax (781.237.0407) ). If you have any questions please contact Peg Rose at 781-237-5533 ext. 103

Events & Attractions

The 2011 Show, "A Burst of Color: Celebrating the Container Garden", will feature 25 show gardens (each showcasing some form of creative container garden), 240 vendors (selling plants and garden related merchandise), lectures and demonstrations (for gardeners at all levels of expertise), and a lively amateur competition area produced by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts.

Preview Party

The Boston Flower & Garden Show is proud to welcome the Boston Parks and Recreation Department as its charitable partner for the 2011 Boston Flower & Garden Preview Party at 5:30 on March 15th. A kick-off to New England’s largest horticultural event, proceeds from this exclusive fundraiser and annual sneak-peek to the Show will benefit the Fund for Parks and Recreation, which helps support environmental projects, park beautification projects, and recreation programming in the City of Boston.  Tickets are $125 per guest and are on sale now. Visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks.

Media Events

Join WODS host Paul Street for the 2011 Iron Florist Contest on Friday at 6:30 at the Demo Stage!  Come see the competition and watch the contestants sweat.  Check out amateur designers in action and cheer on your favorites.  Or get on the stage yourself!  Win tickets to the show from WODS, and get to participate in the Iron Florist Contest.  Flaunt your design skills for a spa and florist gift certificate!  Beauty for your home and yourself; it’s the perfect way to start the season!

Don’t forget to visit WHDH.com and upload your best picture of the signs of spring in New England.  Ten lucky winners will receive tickets to the Boston Flower & Garden Show and a Black & Decker Plantsmart, and one grand prize winner will receive a luncheon cruise for two on the Spirit of Boston!

Need a girls’ night out?  Enter to win a Mix Chicks night out with Mix 104.1's Erin O’Malley!  Six women and their guests will join Erin for dinner and a trip to the Boston Flower & Garden Show on Thursday evening!

Why wait till May to celebrate Mom?  Submit a photo of your garden on Magic1067.com and be entered to win a special mother/daughter trip to the Boston Flower & Garden Show, including an exclusive Tea for Two at the Seaport Hotel!

Get into the swing of spring on Sunday mornings with Magic 106.7’s Sunday morning jazz!  Listen in for the chance to win tickets to the Boston Flower & Garden Show!

Competitions

The Boston Flower & Garden Show will host two complementary floral design competitions -- one produced by the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts and the other by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society -- as well as an Amateur Horticulture section, featuring an Ikebana display, and displays by plant societies and garden clubs. For further information on the competitions, visit The Massachusetts Horticultural Society site. The CleanItSupply company is sponsoring both competitions and will provide plaques and other prizes appropriate to each category. This the company who offers "best value in paper towels" along with household cleaning supplies. Please visit their site at cleanitsupply.com.

Invitationals

A new feature, The Container Garden Invitational, offers yet another way to appreciate plants and flowers, as sixteen professional designers and non-profit groups present eye-popping colorful and inspirational vignettes in this display subtitled "Thrill, Spill and Fill", the shorthand recipe for an effective container garden.

The elegant Florists’ Invitational will feature over-the-top arrangements by dozens of the region’s top professional florists, all members of the newly formed Massachusetts Professional Florists Association, adding even more color and drama to the show floor. Garden Getaway for Two

Plan to register to win a free trip for two to one of New England's most glorious travel destinations, the Cape & Islands, courtesy of Subaru of New England and coordinated by Cape Cod Life Publications.  Package includes:

One-night accommodations at the following properties:
Cape Cod - The Coonemessett Inn, Falmouth, MA
Nantucket - Centerboard Guest House
Martha's Vineyard - Hob Knob Hotel, Edgartown
Two vouchers for roundtrip adult airfare between Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket on Cape Air.
Two tickets to the Heritage Museum & Gardens and the the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA.

Note: All reservations are based on availability and subject to blackout dates.  Prize winner must book reservations through Cape Cod Life Publications.

English Garden Tea

Enjoy an English Garden Tea during your visit to the Show! There will be one seating each day of the Show at 3:00-5:00pm at the Aura Restaurant in the Seaport Hotel. Select from a menu of assorted teas, sandwiches, tarts, scones and Devonshire cream!  Requires advanced reservations at $29 per person. NOTE: this does not include admission to the Show.  For information and reservations, call 617-385-4300.

Vote

The Boston Flower & Garden Show professional gardens will be judged before the show opens to the public. Preview Party guests will get to vote for their favorite in the People's Choice Award!

Paragon Group, Inc. is an event marketer offering a wealth of corporate and managerial experience with an entrepreneurial edge. We take pride in customizing events to fit marketplace needs. We are known for producing exciting, quality and well attended consumer shows.

Formed in 2001 from an employee buyout of the consumer auto show division of Reed Exhibition Companies (the largest trade show producer in the world), Paragon Group currently produces six shows in the United States:

• Boston Flower & Garden Show
• National Golf Expo – Boston
• New England International Auto Show
• Connecticut International Auto Show
• Denver Auto Show
• Jacksonville International Car & Truck Show

We collaborate with industry organizations in each of our markets to build partnerships that will enhance both the experiences of our attendees and the missions of the participating associations.

We are proud that the Boston Flower & Garden Show works with the following prestigious horticulture industry organizations:

• Boston Society of Landscape Architects
• The City of Boston Department of Parks & Recreation
• COGdesign
• Ecological Landscaping Association
• Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc.
• Horticultural Club of Boston
• Massachusetts Association of Landscape Professionals
• Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
• Massachusetts Flower Growers Association
• Massachusetts Horticultural Society
• Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association
• Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association
• Massachusetts Professional Florists Association
• New England Society of Botanical Artists
• Newport Preservation Society
• New England Nursery Association
• New England Wild Flower Society
• Worcester County Horticultural Society
• World Association of Flower Arrangers

More Background On TheBostonFlowerShow.com

TheBostonFlowerShow.com served as the online home of the Boston Flower & Garden Show during an important period in the history of horticultural exhibitions in New England. The website promoted an event that combined elaborate display gardens, floral design, horticultural competitions, gardening education, shopping, food demonstrations and family activities under one roof at Boston's Seaport World Trade Center.

Although the Boston Flower & Garden Show launched in its modern form in 2010, it was anything but a completely new concept. It emerged directly from one of Boston's oldest cultural traditions: the enormous spring horticultural exhibitions associated with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. When financial difficulties brought that institution's long-running New England Spring Flower Show to an end, private event producer Paragon Group stepped in to create a successor.

The result was an interesting mixture of old and new. Paragon provided commercial event management, marketing and a marketplace filled with vendors, while organizations such as the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts maintained important educational, competitive and horticultural traditions.

For visitors, TheBostonFlowerShow.com was the practical gateway to this experience. It provided show dates and hours, admission prices, directions, parking information, schedules, competition details, special events and descriptions of the elaborate gardens that were temporarily constructed inside the Seaport exhibition hall.

From a 19th-Century Tradition to a New Boston Flower Show

The roots of Boston's flower-show tradition extend much further back than TheBostonFlowerShow.com.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society was founded in Boston in 1829 with a mission centered on encouraging and improving horticultural science and practice. Exhibitions quickly became an important part of that mission. Early displays included fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, flowers and horticultural innovations.

By the 19th century, these exhibitions had developed into major events. Massachusetts Horticultural Society records identify 1871 as the beginning of the series that evolved into its celebrated Spring Flower Show. By 1879, the spring exhibition had moved to March, a timing that eventually became part of its cultural appeal.

March in Boston can still mean cold temperatures, snow and bare landscapes. Entering an exhibition hall filled with blooming flowers, trees, shrubs, fountains and fully constructed gardens consequently offered something that went beyond gardening education. The show provided New Englanders with an artificial preview of spring.

Over time, the Spring Flower Show became an important annual gathering for landscape professionals, nurseries, garden clubs, horticultural organizations, flower arrangers and home gardeners.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society ultimately produced 137 Spring Flower Shows between 1871 and 2008. But changing economics caught up with the tradition. Increasing production costs, declining attendance and the financial pressures surrounding the Great Recession contributed to the show's demise. The organization did not stage its traditional flower show in 2009.

That left a significant gap in Boston's cultural calendar.

Paragon Group responded by creating the Boston Flower & Garden Show, which debuted in March 2010 at the Seaport World Trade Center.

Paragon Group and the Ownership of the Modern Show

The modern Boston Flower & Garden Show was a privately produced consumer event rather than simply a continuation of the old Massachusetts Horticultural Society show under another name.

Its producer was Paragon Group, an event-marketing company based in the Boston area.

Paragon had substantial experience operating large public exhibitions. The company was formed in 2001 through an employee buyout of the consumer auto-show division of Reed Exhibition Companies. Its portfolio included events such as the New England International Auto Show, National Golf Expo Boston and several automobile shows in other American markets.

That background helps explain the structure of the Boston Flower & Garden Show. It was simultaneously a horticultural exhibition, educational event, public attraction and commercial consumer show.

Importantly, Paragon did not discard the horticultural establishment that had supported Boston's previous show. Instead, it collaborated with established organizations.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society continued to play a major role, particularly in amateur horticulture and floral-design activities. The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts was also deeply involved in competitive floral design and landscape-related activities.

Other participating or supporting organizations over the years included horticultural, landscaping, nursery, botanical and public agencies. This created a hybrid event: commercially produced but strongly connected to nonprofit horticultural institutions and gardening organizations.

The 2010 Revival

The inaugural Boston Flower & Garden Show opened in March 2010 with the theme "A Feast for the Senses."

Paragon made an important choice when organizing the revival: Carolyn Weston was placed in charge of the new event. Weston had previously directed the New England Spring Flower Show for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 12 consecutive years.

Her involvement provided continuity and institutional knowledge.

Contemporary coverage described approximately 30 major garden exhibits along with a garden marketplace, demonstrations, lectures, competitions, afternoon teas and other attractions. The intention was clearly to restore Boston's spring flower-show experience rather than create an unrelated gardening trade show.

The revival attracted attention precisely because Boston had gone without its traditional major flower show in 2009.

The success of the 2010 event allowed Paragon to continue, and the Boston Flower & Garden Show became an annual March attraction.

The 2011 Show and "A Burst of Color"

The 2011 edition provides an especially useful picture of what visitors using TheBostonFlowerShow.com could expect.

Held March 16-20 at the Seaport World Trade Center, the show's theme was "A Burst of Color: Celebrating the Container Garden."

Container gardening was an unusually appropriate theme for a metropolitan gardening exhibition. Containers made gardening relevant to people who did not own large suburban properties. Apartment balconies, terraces, rooftops, small yards and urban entrances could all accommodate some form of container garden.

The show encouraged participating garden designers to incorporate significant containers into their exhibits. These could include formal urns, topiary, raised beds, built-in planters, ceramics, vertical gardens and objects creatively repurposed as planters.

The theme therefore connected professional landscape design with something ordinary visitors could realistically reproduce at home.

Approximately 25 major show gardens formed the visual centerpiece of the exhibition, while roughly 240 vendors offered plants, gardening merchandise and related products.

Educational programming was extensive. Visitors could choose from lectures, gardening demonstrations, workshops and cooking presentations. Speakers and participating groups represented subjects ranging from roses and floral design to edible gardening and container planting.

There were also children's gardening activities, making the show more than an event for experienced adult gardeners.

Gardens as Temporary Works of Art

One of the remarkable features of a major indoor flower show is the amount of work required to create something designed to exist for only a few days.

Landscape contractors moved stone, soil, trees, shrubs, flowers, structures and water features into an exhibition building and created the illusion of established outdoor gardens. Lighting specialists then helped transform these installations into theatrical environments.

Waterfalls, patios, paths, stone walls, ponds, garden structures and mature-looking landscapes appeared inside the convention hall.

The finished displays were consequently part landscape demonstration and part temporary installation art.

Period reviews demonstrate that these gardens were also one of the main reasons people attended. A 2011 review in the Dorchester Reporter noted such crowd-pleasing attractions as a tree house, woodland-style environments and miniature gardens, including a tiny interpretation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum courtyard.

WBUR later described installations containing waterfalls, outdoor seating, shrubbery, fountains, chicken coops and even live parrots.

The visual spectacle mattered, but there was a practical commercial purpose behind it as well. Landscape companies could demonstrate craftsmanship and design ideas to thousands of potential customers in a setting far more dramatic than a conventional sales booth.

Competitions and Awards

Competition remained one of the strongest links between the modern show and Boston's older horticultural traditions.

Professional display gardens were judged, while amateur horticulture and floral-design competitions gave garden-club members, growers and designers opportunities to demonstrate their abilities.

The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Horticultural Society were important participants in this part of the event.

Awards could recognize excellence in landscape design, horticulture, plant selection, environmental responsibility and specific design elements. A People's Choice component also allowed visitors to participate in recognizing favorite gardens.

The seriousness of these competitions is illustrated by the award records of participating landscape companies.

Ahronian Landscaping & Design, for example, records receiving multiple honors at later Boston Flower & Garden Shows. Its 2012 showing included Best of Show and a Landscape Design Council award for excellence in landscape design. In 2013, the company received the People's Choice Award along with additional landscape, horticultural and agricultural honors.

A team associated with the Garden Design School also earned five awards at the 2012 show, including recognition for landscape design, native plant use and environmentally responsible design.

These awards reinforced the show's professional credibility. Exhibitors were not simply constructing attractive booths; many were creating gardens evaluated according to established horticultural and landscape-design standards.

Shopping and the Garden Marketplace

The marketplace was another major part of the Boston Flower & Garden Show.

Hundreds of vendors meant that visitors could move directly from inspiration to purchasing. Plants, gardening products, tools, decorative items and landscape-related merchandise were available throughout the exhibition.

This commercial element helped distinguish the modern show from a museum-like flower exhibition. Visitors were encouraged to take ideas home and act on them.

For gardening businesses, the show concentrated a highly relevant audience in one building. Nurseries, landscapers, specialty growers and gardening-product companies could interact directly with consumers already interested enough in gardening to purchase admission to a flower show.

The relationship between education and commerce was therefore mutually reinforcing. A visitor might attend a lecture about container gardening, see examples in a professional display and then purchase plants or equipment from a marketplace vendor.

Food, Tea and Lifestyle Programming

TheBostonFlowerShow.com also reflected the expansion of gardening into broader lifestyle interests.

Cooking demonstrations connected vegetable and herb gardening with the kitchen. Garden-related food programming helped illustrate the increasingly popular concept of growing one's own produce.

The 2011 event included cooking segments featuring local culinary personalities and organizations. An English Garden Tea at the nearby Seaport Hotel's Aura Restaurant offered teas, sandwiches, tarts, scones and Devonshire cream.

The tea required a separate reservation and was not included with show admission, but it demonstrates how organizers attempted to turn attendance into a larger day-out experience.

Later shows continued the garden-to-table connection. In 2013, for example, programming included local chefs demonstrating how to grow, use and preserve produce and herbs.

Family Activities and Education

The Boston Flower & Garden Show was not intended exclusively for landscape professionals or serious horticulturists.

Educational programming covered multiple skill levels, and children's activities introduced gardening concepts to younger visitors.

By 2013, the show included a "Little Sprouts Kids Corner" emphasizing subjects such as organic gardening. Master Gardeners also provided opportunities for visitors to ask practical questions involving soil, insects and other common garden problems.

This educational dimension reflected the deeper mission inherited from Massachusetts horticultural organizations: flower shows were places where knowledge was exchanged, not merely places where flowers were admired.

Media Partnerships and Publicity

The show received considerable Boston-area media exposure.

Contemporary promotions included collaborations with radio and television outlets. During the 2011 event, promotions involved stations including WODS, WHDH, Mix 104.1 and Magic 106.7.

Contests encouraged people to submit photographs, win admission tickets or participate in special events. An "Iron Florist Contest," for example, transformed floral arranging into a spectator competition.

The event was also covered editorially by major regional outlets.

WBUR examined the show as both a seasonal tradition and a successor to the old Massachusetts Horticultural Society event. The Boston Globe covered its gardens and exhibitors, while CBS Boston produced visitor-oriented guides. Local newspapers and gardening publications similarly treated the show as a notable sign that spring was approaching.

That media attention illustrates the show's position somewhere between specialist horticultural gathering and mainstream Boston entertainment.

Attendance, Popularity and Reviews

The modern show did not immediately equal the enormous scale of the historic New England Spring Flower Show.

A 2011 Dorchester Reporter assessment said expected attendance was approximately 67,000 and noted that the Seaport exhibition was considerably smaller than its predecessor. The report acknowledged complaints about reduced display space and presentation conditions while also highlighting imaginative gardens and practical programming.

WBUR similarly observed in 2013 that the new show was smaller than the historic exhibition but emphasized that participating landscapers continued producing impressive installations.

By the middle of the decade, the event remained capable of drawing tens of thousands of people. The Seaport Boston Hotel reported that more than 60,000 visitors attended the previous year's show in its 2017 promotional coverage.

Those figures are significant for a specialized gardening event and demonstrate that Paragon succeeded in preserving a substantial audience after the collapse of the older show.

Visitor reactions also reveal an important emotional component. For many attendees, the attraction was simply being surrounded by greenery and flowers while winter still dominated the outdoors.

That psychological "spring break" effect was arguably one of the show's strongest selling points.

The Seaport World Trade Center Location

The Seaport World Trade Center at 200 Seaport Boulevard became closely associated with the modern Boston Flower & Garden Show.

Its location in Boston's Seaport District made the event accessible by automobile and public transportation. The site had connections to Interstate 90 and Interstate 93 and was convenient to Logan International Airport.

Visitors using public transportation could reach the complex from South Station via the MBTA Silver Line to World Trade Center Station.

The location also placed visitors close to the Seaport Hotel and within reach of Boston Harbor attractions, downtown Boston, the North End, Faneuil Hall and the New England Aquarium area.

Water transportation was another distinctive option. Period visitor information described water-taxi and harbor connections serving the Seaport complex.

For out-of-town attendees, this made it possible to incorporate the flower show into a broader Boston visit rather than treating it as an isolated suburban convention.

Admission and Visitor Amenities

In 2011, standard adult admission was $20. Seniors 65 and older paid $17, children ages 6 through 17 paid $10, and children under six were admitted free.

Group discounts were available, an important consideration because gardening clubs and organized bus tours represented a natural audience for the show.

Visitors were permitted to bring cameras and video recorders, something organizers actively encouraged because photographs allowed homeowners to preserve landscaping ideas for later use.

Package and coat checking was also available. That was particularly useful at an event where visitors might purchase plants, tools or bulky garden merchandise and continue exploring for several hours.

The Preview Party and Boston Parks

One particularly important community component was the show's Preview Party.

The Boston Parks and Recreation Department became a charitable partner, with proceeds supporting Boston parks, beautification projects, recreation programs and horticultural initiatives.

The relationship continued beyond 2011. City of Boston material for the 2012 Preview Party specifically explained that proceeds would help restore Parks Department greenhouses used to propagate plants and flowers throughout the year.

This partnership connected the indoor spectacle with actual public green spaces throughout Boston.

It also illustrates how the show operated on several levels at once: commercial exhibition, horticultural competition, educational program, social event and civic fundraiser.

Cultural and Social Significance

TheBostonFlowerShow.com documented more than an annual consumer event.

The Boston Flower & Garden Show represented the survival and reinvention of a cultural tradition extending back generations.

Boston's horticultural exhibitions historically brought together professional growers, wealthy collectors, amateur gardeners, scientists, nurseries, landscape designers and ordinary residents. Over time, their focus changed along with society itself—from agricultural produce and new fruit varieties to ornamental gardening, residential landscaping, sustainability, urban gardening and outdoor living.

The modern show reflected those changes.

Container gardening addressed shrinking urban spaces. Vegetable gardening and cooking demonstrations reflected growing interest in local food. Native plants and environmentally responsible landscaping appeared in award criteria. Children's programming introduced another generation to gardening.

At the same time, the fundamental appeal remained remarkably consistent: in the middle of a New England March, people could walk into a building and experience spring weeks before it arrived outdoors.

Understanding TheBostonFlowerShow.com Today

TheBostonFlowerShow.com is best understood as a historical window into the early years of the revived Boston Flower & Garden Show.

Its surviving material captures a moment when organizers were attempting to preserve one of Boston's oldest seasonal traditions while adapting it to a new economic and organizational model. The 2011 show is particularly revealing because it demonstrates how quickly the revived event developed its own identity: themed gardens, hundreds of vendors, educational programming, floral competitions, media promotions, charitable partnerships and practical visitor services all worked together.

The website's historical value is therefore greater than a simple collection of old ticket prices and event schedules.

It documents the transition between two eras.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Spring Flower Show represented a nonprofit horticultural tradition stretching back into the 19th century. The Paragon-produced Boston Flower & Garden Show represented a 21st-century consumer-event model that nevertheless preserved competitions, gardening education and participation by many of the region's established horticultural organizations.

That combination explains why the revived show mattered.

It allowed Boston's flower-show tradition to survive after the institution that had sustained it for more than a century could no longer afford to do so. Although smaller than its celebrated predecessor, the Boston Flower & Garden Show still attracted tens of thousands of visitors and provided landscapers, garden clubs, growers, designers and home gardeners with a major regional gathering place.

For anyone exploring TheBostonFlowerShow.com today, the site provides a snapshot of that transition—and of an event whose real product was never simply flowers. It sold inspiration, education, gardening ideas and, perhaps most importantly for generations of New England visitors, the promise that spring was finally on its way.