Movies and costumes and vodka and - oh, yes - flowers!

The Philadelphia Flower Show and its 2015 theme - "Celebrate the Movies" - will be a paean to Disney films.

Floral and garden designers will be interpreting, rather than replicating, characters and props. Which means there'll be no selfies beside giant cutouts of Mulan's plucky Chinese heroine or Jack Sparrow, the roguish captain of Pirates of the Caribbean - or, alas, Johnny Depp himself.

But you will see, in Stoney Bank Nurseries of Glen Mills' Mulan-inspired exhibit, subtle features that characterize Chinese gardens, such as a moon door; a reflecting pool with water lilies, iris, and ceramic koi; and sculptured rocks that resemble natural limestone, with their weathered holes, etched cavities, and smoothed edges.

"I believe the garden will provide a real sense of reflection and tranquillity," says Joe Blandy, a landscape architect and president of the family business, which is making its 36th appearance at the show.

You will also see, in Mark Cook's modern take on Pirates of the Caribbean, oversize treasure-chest planters filled with giant palm trees and "cannons" overflowing with curly willow stems illuminated from within with flickering lights to simulate the cannon flash.

"No Johnny Depp unless I find a look-alike," says Cook, who runs a landscape/contracting business in Doylestown and who has been an exhibitor since 2009.

No talk of connections between Hollywood and the Philadelphia Flower Show would be complete without mention of Grace Kelly, the homegrown Hollywood star who was whisked off to Monaco to become a princess. But she returned often to Philadelphia, and to the Flower Show, where she was especially fond of the pressed-flower entries. In 1976, she served as a judge.

At the 2009 Bella Italia show, actor Danny DeVito talked up the roses and vegetables he cultivates at his Beverly Hills home, but, face it, he came to sell his limoncello.

This year, it's booze, too, that brings Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, and other classics, and actor Ethan Wayne, youngest son of John, to the show, to be held at the Convention Center from Saturday through March 8. On March 6, the former will autograph and sell the skull-shaped bottles of his Crystal Head vodka; on Saturday, Wayne will do the same with his Duke bourbon and set up some dad memorabilia for viewing. Details at theflowershow.com.

The biggest live draw, at least among boomers in attendance, may be Gene London. Remember him?

Originally from Cleveland, London was the youthful, soft-spoken host of several children's TV shows, most notably Cartoon Corners (General Store) in Philadelphia (on WCAU, now NBC10) from 1959 to 1977. He could sing and draw, but his forte was storytelling, a proclivity that no doubt fueled a lifelong fondness for the glamour and magic of the movies.

"It's just a love affair," says London, who began collecting movie memorabilia in his 20s.

Now 83 and living in Hallandale Beach, Fla., he has a Hollywood collection that comprises 60,000 gowns, dresses, and fashion accessories valued at $3 million. When it is not traveling the country and the world, London stores it all in a huge climate-controlled warehouse in Reading.

London promises to bring more than 50 outfits to the Flower Show, Room 203. (Cost to enter: $5.) And he says he will be on hand every day to share stories and secrets of the stars and their clothes.

In a recent interview, he asked, for example, "Did you know Grace [Kelly] had a very whiny voice before it was trained? She went to school and the teacher said, 'Honey, your voice doesn't match your looks. You're going to have to study who you like, sound like them.'

"It took her a long time to forget her real voice," says London, who will bring to the show Kelly's "liquid gold" gown from To Catch a Thief.

Also coming are John Wayne jackets from his Rooster Cogburn movies, replicas of several Scarlett O'Hara gowns from Gone With the Wind, and two of Rhett Butler's outfits, including the one in which he utters his most famous line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

One last Philadelphia-Hollywood connection of note:

Bank of America, a Flower Show sponsor, lent money in its original incarnation to Charlie Chaplin to film The Kid in 1919, and to Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and to David O. Selznick for Gone With the Wind in the '30s. The bank has also provided financing for It's a Wonderful Life, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, and, more recently, The Hunger Games, Birdman, and American Sniper.

Turns out, everyone at the Flower Show - even Bank of America - has a story to tell.

 Where: Saturday through March 8 at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. next Saturday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Sunday.

Admission: Adults, $28 advance/$32 at the door; students 17-24, $21/$22; children 2-16, $16/$17.

Information: www.theflowershow.comEndText

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