Imagining the Possibilities at the Naples Flower Show

The Annual Naples Flower Show and Garden Market has been a staple event in Southwest Florida for the last 68 years. It is also the largest juried flower show in Florida presented by the Naples Garden Club in partnership with the Naples Botanical Garden.

Starting on Friday, March 17th, the show drew thousands of people who came to admire award winning floral designs and celebrate horticultural displays from members’ landscapes.

If you were looking for the Pot O’ Gold at the end of the rainbow, the two-day event had you covered. With a theme of “Just Imagine” the displays took you to another level of creativity and artistry as you explored, dreamed and traveled to exotic places.

The exhibit was open to members of National Garden Clubs and an exhibitor may enter multiple classes but only one exhibit per class. Fresh plant materials may never be treated and no artificial flower, foliage, fruit or vegetables are permitted, nor are living members of the Animal Kingdom.  

The “Postcards” theme took you to places such as Japan and Paris’ Monet’s Garden, with each color combination creating balance and expressing the Postcard’s theme.

Another Imaginary theme was “Beauty Meets Hardware” where the design may incorporate all or a bit of black gutter mesh; five zip ties and 10 feet of 19-gauge black wire and staged on black Formica – and sometimes judges’ comments are not always as complimentary.

More to my level of understanding was the “Facets of Color” where floral displays were in monochromatic design. It was a crowd pleaser based on all those gathered around the stunning design by Polly Galliker. She used red roses, tulips, Ti Plants, red potatoes, strawberries, red peppers, radishes, red grapes and red apples and she received four awards including a gold rosette for Design Excellence, Naples Garden Club’s Best Color, Red and Blue Rosette and Blue Ribbon.

Another favorite and awarded Honorable Mention was a floral design under “Imagine Couture, What’s My Line” honoring fashion legend Coco Chanel as a tribute to the “little black dress” as the “haute couture” of the 1920’s. And 100 years later, it is still an essential part of a “well-dressed” woman’s wardrobe.

The “Imagine Elements” depicted the Earth, wind-must imply movement and fire must turn up the heat! Earth’s interpretation included popular vegetables such as Bok Choy, radish, garlic, ginger, egg plants, asparagus, peppers, fern, carrots, kale, and dill and it received “interesting use of varied vegetables” comment from the judges.

The Horticulture Category – Imagined “what’s above and below ground,” and open to all amateur gardeners. All specimens must be fresh and grown by the exhibitor. “I grow that in my backyard” was a frequent comment from visitors.

The Youth Category of Future Gardeners was open to Global Gardening students in grades four through six from Avalon Elementary School.

The Garden Market, part of the Flower Show, was also a shopper’s paradise. If you were looking for plants for bees and butterflies, Green Door Nursery had a good selection. Green Door is just doors down the street on Bayshore Boulevard. 

Nancy Norman from Marco Island had her functional clay pieces on exhibit and Mary Limont’s creation combined natural stones, silver, copper and brass – all inspired by nature. Both artists are members of the Marco Island Center for the Arts and their collections are available through the Gift Gallery at the Center for the Arts.

The Calusa Garden Club of Marco had two floral exhibits by designers Connie Lowery and Jackie Purvis. Maureen McFarland held a demonstration on Native Plants under the Big Tent. The Club had a tent promoting their upcoming Second Annual Marco Island Garden Tour for March 31st. They offer two tours of four gardens – a great opportunity to check out distinctly different types of gardens in Marco Island.