Southern Garden Show

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- About 29,000 tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and snapdragons make the Southern Spring Home and Garden Show bloom.

The 52nd annual event opens Feb. 28 and runs through March 3 at the Park Expo and Conference Center with 25 participating landscapers and nurserymen who will create designs from thousands of flowers nurtured to bloom in time for the show.

At the same time the bulbs were in their deadline dance, interior designers ordered fabrics, selected paint colors, and found just the right furnishings for their rooms. Orchid lovers, bonsai enthusiasts, ikebana and horticulturists were making sure they had their prize specimens ready for the big day.

The show also features pavilions devoted to kitchens, bathrooms, construction, interiors, travel, food, wine, a take-me-home marketplace, patios and horticulture. There are three stages packed with celebrity guests and hometown experts sharing tips on gardening, home improvements, cooking and the environment.

For more information, including stage schedule and featured speakers, visit www.southernspringhomeandgardenshow, or call 800-849-0248.

Philly flower show

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's largest and showiest horticultural extravaganza, runs March 2-10 at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

The show's broad theme, "Brilliant!," features something for everyone, from lovers of old-fashioned English gardens to more modern types who favor contemporary, sleek and minimalist designs.

Major exhibitors include American Institute of Floral Designers with interpretations of the Crown Jewels through floral artistry, and Burke Brothers Landscape Design/Build's settings for local materials and art installations, including a stone path that winds through the woods and leads to an artist's sunny glade filled with flowering trees and dense evergreens.

Other full-scale displays feature colorful container gardens, topiaries, rhododendron gardens, children's gardens, invasive plants and insects, fern gardens, urban revitalization, greenhouses, ikenobo arrangements, historic English potting shed, fountains, cold frames, bonsai, English weddings and high teas and Irish cultural gardens, all in creative and innovative settings.

In addition to acres of exhibits, the show features culinary demonstrations, a tearoom, wine and spirit tastings and designer and gardener demonstrations.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society produces the show, which dates to 1829. Last year's Hawaiian-themed show drew 270,000 visitors.

Tickets may be purchased at www.theflowershow.com or at all show entrances. Prices are $32 for adults, $22 for students and $17 for children 2 and older.