What the Flower Show-goers also want? Showbiz!

How's this for an odd couple: Danny DeVito and the Philadelphia Flower Show?

Yes, the pint-size actor, director, and producer is coming to this year's event, "Bella Italia," which will run next Sunday through March 8 at the Convention Center.

He's pazzo about roses and grows his own vegetables at home in Beverly Hills, but he'll be here for another reason: to hawk his Premium Limoncello, a traditional southern Italian liqueur - 60 proof - made from filtered alcohol, sugar water, and lemon zest.

At the Flower Show? You bet your butterfly bush.

Now 180 years old, the show is still considered the top horticultural event in the country. But in recent years, something new has been added to the mix. Call it the DeVito effect - whatever it takes to create buzz and bring in the crowds, like the "white tiger (or lion) effect" at zoos.

It's about live entertainment among the flowery displays; bigger, more theatrical exhibits and shopping ops; snazzy special effects; evening cash bars; and, in a week, the chance to quaff limoncello with DeVito, occasionally seen around town for his TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

"We want the Flower Show to be large and extravagant. We want people to say, 'Wow!' and pull out their cameras," says show designer Sam Lemheney, who was hired away in 2003 from Walt Disney World in Orlando by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which produces the festivities.

The Disney connection fit nicely with the society's long-term goal of freshening the Flower Show and broadening its appeal while retaining its horticultural heart.

"You've got to be different. You've got to be stunning. That's what grabs people," says Jane Pepper, society president. "We never had to think of this before. People just rolled into the show."

About 15 years ago, the society started doing market research to find out why some people go to the show and others don't, why some go every year and others only occasionally, and, of late, how important entertainment - versus horticulture - is.

Horticulture is still king, but on a scale of 0 to 10, showgoers rated entertainment a robust 7.

Lisa Stephano, the society's senior marketing director, explains: "Fifteen, 20 years ago, people came because the show was beautiful. Then more and more, they wanted information about plants and gardening. . . . Now, flower shows have to be even more than that. They're entertainment events."

Lemheney, an Archbishop Carroll High School graduate, was well-prepped for this job. As a kid, he spent summers with the family landscaping company, maintaining the grounds at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster. He got a degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Delaware. And he did two internships with Disney, which had a gardening staff of 600, and then a full-time gig for 13 years.

"Disney was a perfect match for me. It was magic," says Lemheney, who once turned a ballroom into a savannah from The Lion King.

It was also good training for the Philadelphia Flower Show. "The plants and flowers are still the stars, and we are completely immersed in the theme," Lemheney says, "but I want to give people a better show."

So for the 2007 Ireland theme, he imported fresh-faced dancers from the Aran Islands. They were a big hit.

And for last year's "Jazz It Up," he hired Big Sam's Funky Nation from New Orleans. Some spectators grumbled to Pepper about the volume, but most seemed to enjoy the party.

"Bella Italia" will feature opera, folk dancers, Renaissance-costumed actors, and a piazza outside the exhibition hall. There you'll be able to buy olive oil, pasta, and handmade Italian shoes and soaps, and browse an Italian wine-and-spirits shop staffed by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. You can even sample the wares.

It's a world away from the nation's first flower show in 1829, with its public exhibitions of fruits, flowers, and plants, especially new and exotic varieties. Eventually, the show became a place to see and be seen - and compete.

That's still the case for the elite horticulturists, who are obsessively competitive. For them, the show also serves as a kind of family reunion.

"It's like the beginning of spring, and I get to meet all my friends from all over the area. Everybody comes out of hibernation," says Adam Levine, who wrote The Philadelphia Flower Show: Celebrating 175 Years, with fellow show warrior Ray Rogers.

The modern-day event draws about 240,000 visitors a year. Most are female and from Pennsylvania, which is not new. But about one-third are first-timers, and more younger folks - from the late 30s, the society says - are giving it a whirl.

Weather and world events are critical to attendance: The blizzard of 1993 was a disaster, and in 2001 a forecast of snow - none fell - kept crowds away. War can literally be a showstopper.

This year, with the bad economy and a drop in government funding, the horticultural society is in a bit of a sweat. Pepper says program "adjustments" will have to be made in 2010, and she has not ruled out layoffs among the staff of 115.

As for the Flower Show, worries about the economy's effect on the gate prompted some discussion of lowering ticket prices. In the end, Pepper says, the society decided against it.

"The Flower Show," she says, "gives really good value," typically raising about $1 million for the society's urban gardening programs.

Adult tickets have cost $24 on weekdays for three years now, which may sound steep, especially when transportation, parking, and meals are tossed in. But for a comparison, the cheapest seat for an Eagles game last year cost $65.

The hope is that "Bella Italia" will be evocative and irresistible in these grim times, especially for Italians. And entertainment will be a big part of that.

"It's necessary," says designer Michael Petrie of Handmade Gardens in Downingtown, whose 2009 exhibit is called "L'Albero Verniciato" ("The Painted Tree").

"The show was getting very staid and quiet, and I mean, come on, you've got to appeal to younger generations, who have the attention span of two seconds," he says. "If you have to distract kids in strollers, fine, if that's what it takes to get people in there."

Actually, the show now has a Family Lounge, with movies and reading time for toddlers - and parents who might want to take a break after a hit of limoncello.

Whatever it takes, "there will always be a Flower Show," says the Scotland-born Pepper, "just as there will always be an England."

The 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show, "Bella Italia," opens to the public next Sunday and runs through March 8 at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets: Box-office prices for adults are $28 next Sunday, $26 March 7 and March 8, $24 weekdays, and $13 for ages 2 to 16.

Information: For details on ticket packages, advance-purchase, locations and all other aspects of the show, call 215-988-8899 or go to www.theflowershow.com.

EndText