Exploring America at the Philadelphia Flower Show

One of my favorite things to do to celebrate the imminent arrival of Spring is to take my mom on a mini vacation eastward to attend the Philadelphia Flower Show.
The PFS is the nation's largest and longest-running horticultural event,
and features stunning displays by the world’s premier floral and landscape designers.  Founded in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society, the Show introduces new varieties of plants, garden & design concepts and organic, sustainable practices. It is also the host to world-renowned competitions in horticulture and artistic floral arranging, gardening presentations and interesting demonstrations.
Huge crowds are drawn to this annual event but by and large, they are a very respectful bunch and it only takes a slight bit of maneuvering to obtain wonderful pics of the displays.
Each year the organizers choose a theme. This year's theme was Exploring America - 100 Years of the National Park Service, and featured acres of displays inspired by iconic parks like Acadia, Cape Cod, Valley Forge, Shenandoah, Yellowstone and Yosemite, 
I was most eager to see the faux California Redwoods, as one of the things on my "to do" list is to visit northern California and spend some time in Redwood National Forest. I was also very much looking forward to experiencing the Show's "Butterflies Live" exhibit where visitors are able to feed and roam amongst more than 1,000 butterflies of 20 different domestic and exotic species. I must say that I was not in the least disappointed. The redwood display was impressively awesome and the butterflies were simply beautiful and magical.
I took so many photos that it was very difficult to choose which one to feature in today's Blip but this shot to the side of "Big Timber Lodge" - featured at the entrance to this year's Show, is very colorful and quite representative of the types of displays that visitors were treated to while "Exploring America."
In the "extra photos" area here I am including a few more shots. The first, of my mom standing in front of the "redwoods." The second, the view looking up inside another of the "redwoods," and the third is me holding what I think is known as the Large Blue butterfly.

“This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried all at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”



~ John Muir, the Poet Laureate of the High Sierra