It's a rare sight to see an art center compete in  a flower show, rarer still to earn a mention in the New York Times.  For the second time, CCAA entered the "container" display at the Philadelphia Flower Show, and earned top honors with two sets of judges (a 2nd and 3rd place, with both giving the highest points to "design and originality") .

CCAA's entry caught the eye of the Times reporter partly because the art center chose not to follow the show's Irish theme but instead created a tropical plant display inspired by a Gauguin painting.   (And why not? An art center should promote art.  Or CCAA's as Darcie Goldberg put it,  "We appeal to the masses" with art people recognize and love.)  Describing "Gauguin's bedroom,"  the Times called attention to tightly-rendered "tabeau,"  "a South Seas-ish scheme in which languid exotic plants fill every space not occupied by a small four-poster bed."  

The entire display – one that "threw the whole Irish theme overboard," according to the Times – was a group effort by a hard-working committee comprised of Darcie, Michelle Venema, Betty Drummond and others who created the so-called "hard" display items.  Susan Pope, for instance, made the bed with its colorful totum-pole-like pillars; Kim Sward matched its colors in a ground mat; and Rhoda Kahler created all the individual clay containers including wall pockets for the some 20 different orchids and dozens of "air" plants that hung, high and low, along  with live Spanish moss, above  the bed.

This year, the plant selection and  logicistics -  beginning with finding a hothouse grower to provide the team withsome 65 container plants  including a blooming Jasmine tree -  was made slightly easier.  CCAA's commitee was assisted  by a professional:  Pamela Small. She is the owner of an unusual garden consulting business,"Creative Containers and Beyond." She  nonetheless donated her time to the effort.

Pam Small, volunteer, master gardener

Small, whose previous experience working underpressure includes creating displays for Vassar Show House, said the tricky part was the timing. Despite a last minute heat failure in the greenhouse, the committee managed to get all the surviving plants, plus many "doubles"  into two vans. They then had one day – actually only a few hours of real working time – to select, rearrange, edit and then label (Latin names included) each and every plant. "It's one big rush, " Pamela recalled.