Olbrich's Spring Show: Good enough to eat!

Spring Flower Show: Banquets of Blooms

March 11-26, 2017

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily

Show Admission: $3 for adults (ages 13 & up), $2 for children ages 3 to 12, and children 2 and under are free.

It's also free for Olbrich Botanical Society members. 

. . .

The staff at Olbrich Botanical Gardens always pulls out all the creative stops when it comes to their annual spring floral event. Of course, it's a real boost just to walk into a room filled with the scent and color of flowers in March in Wisconsin, but this year's display goes way beyond mere floral beauty. It is a clever, creative and utterly charming spring show. (Do double click to enlarge the pictures so you can enjoy the details.)

This year's theme of "Banquet of Blooms" is exemplified in a myriad of settings. The center of the room is designed for cooking with herbs and edible flowers in a kitchen complete with a vintage stove, sink, and cupboard full of cookbooks and tools. There are multiple locations for enjoying drinks and dinner in the garden as well as beautifully detailed recreations and imaginations of food made out of natural materials. This has to be one of the most labor-intensive spring shows the garden has done with hundreds of small-scale items created for decoration, dining and "eating" everywhere you look.

The addition of this Guy Wolff terra cotta rhubarb forcing pot from 2002 says to me that this display was created by gardeners who grow their own food and cook it! Such a telling detail. 

Pool party!!!

The flowers and greenery are sometimes grouped in contrasting color arrangements and in others, the flowers flow in tones from pale peach to corals and pinks fading into lavender. This particular display of flowers took my breath away until I saw the table they encircled.

Note the silverware and the "flourless chocolate cake."

Below is the dreamy dinning table that won my heart. I think Olbrich should sell raffle tickets as a fund-raising benefit with the prize being the staff recreating this magical willow structure in the winner's garden. 

 

This coming Sunday, March 26, is the last day to see Olbrich's Spring Flower Show. This is one you won't want to miss!

Comments

[Loree / danger garden]

What fun! I'm so glad you got a big of spring bling to enjoy. I hope they had as much fun putting this display together as it looks like they did.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

This is great. Wish I lived closer I would definitely go there. I love that table with the chairs in the water. It reminds me of those bars that resorts set up in their pools. That cake seems to be 'flowerless' as well as 'flourless'. ha.. very clever. Don't you just love seeing all of that flower COLOR. It makes one's hear soar.

[Jane Miller]

So sorry I will miss this but thanks for the great photos! The pool party is amazing.

[Pat Leuchtman]

I'm not making it to any big garden shows this year, but I did enjoy my jaunts to the Mount Holyoke College Spring Flower Show with lots of fragrant bulbs, primroses, blooming branches,etc. Just a delight. Smith College also has its annual Bulb Show which is a slightly bigger event but equally lovely.

[Linda Brazill]

Nothing helps me get through these last days of cold weather like a flower show. The ones you mentioned sound terrific. Lots of history behind those institutions.

[Beth @ PlantPostings]

Fun! I love the pool party. I need to get over there before the show ends. :)

[Barbara H.]

Oh my word, I have no words! Just amazing.

[Peter/Outlaw]

Hooray for an early taste of spring. The pool party is pretty amazing. Wonder how long it would last before things started getting green with algae and the chairs start rotting.

[Linda Brazill]

I figure just having them in water for the length of the show is probably fatal.