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Fall '07 :: Rhythm and HuesFlower Show correspondent Gay Estes travels to Cleveland and covers a musical festival of flowers. 
Inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show in Great Britain, the Cleveland Botanical Garden boasts the largest show of its kind in America, which is designated a major show by both the Garden Club of America and the National Federation of Garden Clubs.
The theme of the ninth biennial Cleveland Botanical Garden Flower Show in May was, fittingly, "Rhythm and Hues." As Director Brian Holley explained, "It is the happy marriage of the garden and the musical arts." The area’s incredible horticultural diversity and musical heritage were truly embraced to the fullest throughout the Show. The indoor floral designs were staged before brightly-painted backdrops with wonderful names like Kid’s Stuff (a brilliant orange), Kismet, (an exotic purple), Inner Child (a coral), Funky Yellow, and, the blues, Ceylon Blue, in this case. All of the colors were chosen from Ohio-based Sherwin Williams Paint Company. Each floral design category, or class, derived its title from classical musical notations and terms, and many of the competitors created designs that truly sang. 
In the class Vivace (lively) Colleen Werning and Marguerite Tremelin of the Garden Club of Akron "squeezed it through a horn ‘til it was born into" a blue ribbon, using trumpet lilies to reinforce the theme. Fern crosiers added a note of rhythm. Lloyd Taplin of the Cleveland GC took Capriccio (light, free, whimsical) to the outer limits by creating a Magritte-like table setting in an orchard, giving new meaning to the idea of a hanging garden when she inverted some of the trees in her design. A large niche class, Con Colore (with color), inspired Isa Ranganathon, an Ohara instructor and member of the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, to choose a true musical score with a large antiqued scroll she made of the sheet music to "Amazing Grace" with the original date of its publication in 1779. It was literally lyrical. To spice things up a bit, the Show also featured a challenge class, one where all the entrants were given identical material upon their arrival at the show and had to quickly find inspiration. Liza Weihman with the Greenwich Garden Club in Connecticut won a first in this challenge entitled Con Brio (with spirit). The time allotted was short, and everyone had to start and stop at the same time with no swapping. Liza even made time to weave a mat on which her arrangement stood. 
And what is rhythm without motion? In Con Motto, (with rhythm) Martha Rogers Marsh and Catherine Miller, both of the Shaker Lakes Garden Club, created a design combining unusual plant material with a delicate palette. Her assortment included escargot begonia leaves, peperomia foliage, uhle ferns and cymbidium orchids and scored a first place nod and a Best in Show. In the same class, Robin Hardman of Akron used a mobile of white mitsumata branches and lime anthurium in a horizontal hanging parallel design, which was redolent of a music score.
In addition to the floral design categories, the Show boasted tablescapes by designers, competitive horticulture classes, photography, and plenty of botanical jewelry to be admired over the five-day run.
The botanical jewelry strikes a chord with the public in every show. No man made material may be visible and all the surfaces, although treated and painted, come from nature and are actually wearable. While they consist of dried plant material, they could pass for real gems. Catherine Miller of Shaker Lakes swept the division; her necklace took first prize and her pin and earrings in the class Dolicissimo won a sweet first and Best in Show for the Division.  "It was the year of the mustard seed for me," she remarked. Her other materials included wisteria bean for the necklace, white pepper corns, and crepe myrtle pods. Clearly, it pays to keep your head down in the fall for future jewels. Also at the show was a remarkable display of the Ikebana arrangements, exhibited for the enjoyment of the viewers. Ingrid Luders, the Sensei of the group, executed a sculptural style; Dottie Elliot, a free style one row; Isa, a Hanamai, and Lorna Mierke, a freestyle arrangement. As the crowds meandered outdoors, the rest of the show unfolded before them in the form of theme gardens, stretching out along curved pathways lined by vendors, whose garden-related wares spilled out the front of their stalls. Following the theme of Rhythm and Hues, the large display gardens formed an eclectic symphony of colors and musical reference. The New Orleans Jazz Garden created by O’Neill Group of Ohio was packed with people enjoying the French Quarter balcony façade with its iron grillwork, splashing fountain and saxophone soundtrack. Of course, there was a table for coffee and beignets. One of the most ambitious gardens, the Cotton Club, inspired by Duke Ellington’s famed night club of the late 1920s, featured water issuing forth from various brass instruments.  As John Peterson with Wheeler Landscaping, Inc. of Chagrin Falls explained, "the irregular cascade of water suggests the improvisation at the heart of jazz music." Cascading water proved one of the common denominators among the gardens, mingling with the oohs and aahs of the admiring visitors and the sweet melodies of real instruments as some of the gardens hosted live concerts. By the end of the week, more than 30,000 people had experienced the Show. This mammoth undertaking would not have been possible without the dedicated volunteers who assist the Botanical Garden. While the Show itself was a much-anticipated sensation, the Garden is an earthly delight at any season.
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