Brandon Huber was the buzz of the Philadelphia Flower Show preview yesterday, winning - at age 18 - his first blue ribbon.
Not long after judges pronounced his
Amorphophallus konjac
tops in a hardy tuber-bulb-rhizome-corm class, Huber found himself the center of attention from a tag team of invited show visitors, all members of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. They stared and giggled at his purple-brown plant, which is shaped like a phallus and not only looks bizarre but also has a smell often compared to rotting flesh.
"That is unbelievable," said Ben Romney of Elkins Park, who stood gawking for several minutes as Huber chatted with fans.
The
Amorphophallus
, also known as voodoo lily, stink lily or corpse plant, is one of the oddest among several thousand entries in the show's competitive classes. (No numbers yet for this year, but there were 3,700 entries in 2007.) And Huber, a freshman at Community College of Philadelphia, is one of a growing number of under-21 competitors.
According to the Horticultural Society, which produces the weeklong show at the Convention Center - it opens to the public today - the under-21 crowd is approaching 20 percent of competitors. Most are students from Lower Merion High School, Harriton High School, the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, or the University of the Arts.
And most of the unaffiliated individuals are second- or third-generation Flower Show competitors.
Not Huber. He's the first in his family to exhibit here. "We're a gardening family," his mother, Judy, said in a telephone interview yesterday, "but Brandon took all that and made it his own."
Brandon Huber, who hopes to transfer to Temple University's Ambler campus to pursue a career in horticulture, has a thing about weird plants, especially carnivorous ones like the pitcher plant and Venus flytrap, which lure insects and spiders with nectar and other wiles and then devour them.
Such drama is the delight of evil children everywhere. But this
Amorphophallus
is something else.
Two weeks ago, it was 5 inches tall. Last week, Huber said, it began growing several inches a day. Eight-and-a-half inches - he swears - was the 24-hour record. Yesterday it hit 4 1/2 feet, and by tomorrow the thing may bloom.
This happens maybe once a year around this time, thanks to pollinator flies that may have previously feasted on dead animals or carrion. (Hence, this tuber's other nickname: carrion plant.) The bloom is purple, dinner-plate-size, with the consistency of "vinyl upholstery in a '60s car," Huber said.
Once open, the bloom should stay that way for the duration of the show, which ends next Sunday. And it'll smell like roadkill. Mmmm, mmmm. Who wouldn't want one?
Huber's mother wonders. The stench of her son's plant, which he got in an online trade five years ago, fills the family's basement in Parkwood. "Whew!" is about all she can say.
"It smells really bad," her son acknowledged with a grin. "People will be repelled."
Other stuff in the 2008 Flower Show isn't nearly as risque, despite the New Orleans theme - "Jazz It Up."
There's the central feature, with playful musical instruments, "rhythm rooms," and a faux French Quarter. There's jazzy music from the Hoppin' John Orchestra and Settlement Music School, which yesterday had the crowds swaying and snapping pictures of the Mardi Gras-style dancers on the balcony.
Besides a stinky old phallus plant in class 2135, here are a couple of other favorites.
Haddonfield Garden Club's balcony display drew a crowd. Visitors loved the lime-green, purple and white arrangement of ageratum, clematis, lobelia, narcissus, ivy and coral bells.
Michael Bruce Florist of Westmont and Collingswood also had people talking - and looking up. He has done an intriguing hanging exhibit that won the Flower Show award for best floral design.
Bruce calls it "Heads Up," and that describes the demeanor of Keith and Cheryl Degerberg of Pottstown as they tried to figure it out.
"It looks like picture frames. I like the light," said Keith, a truck driver. Cheryl, a bookkeeper, said she thought the display looked more like wind chimes or a mobile covered in flowers.
Soon, an elderly couple - she in tweed skirt, he in sport coat and club tie - strolled by. They looked up and kept going, a pair of young women taking their place.
"Looks like fireworks or framed trellises," said one. "Awesome," said the other.
Performance Schedule
Today
11:30 a.m. to noon, 12:30 to 1 p.m., and 1:30 to 2 p.m.:
Sam Ruttenberg Trio, Legends Stage Presented by Settlement Music School
Noon to 12:30 p.m.:
UCC Brass Band - parade and performance, Bourbon Street Stage
1 to 1:30 p.m.:
UCC Royal Brass Band Concert, Bourbon Street Stage
2 to 2:30 p.m.:
UCC Royal Brass Band Concert, Bourbon Street Stage
(More details and a complete schedule are available at
» READ MORE: www.theflowershow.com
)
SOURCE: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Jazz It Up: The 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show
The 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show is open to the public today through next Sunday at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets.
Hours:
Sundays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; weekdays, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Best viewing hours are after 4.) The box office closes one hour before the show ends.
Tickets:
Box-office prices for adults are $28 today, $26 Saturday and next Sunday, $24 weekdays, and $13 for children ages 2 to 16. The show offers a family fun pack: $65 for two adults and two children younger than 16. Advance tickets are $22 for adults, $21.50 for groups of 25 or more, and $13 for children ages 2 to 16. Visitors who get a hand stamped can leave and reenter the same day without paying a readmission fee.
Getting there by public transit:
SEPTA has routes on Regional Rail trains, buses, subways and trolleys to the Market East station near the Convention Center. SEPTA offers a "Flower Show Special Bouquet Pass," which includes unlimited transportation on its lines plus an adult Flower Show ticket. For SEPTA information, call 215-580-7800 or go to
» READ MORE: www.septa.org
.
Amtrak riders save 20 percent off the best available regular fare for coach travel to Philadelphia through March 11. Call 1-800-USA-RAIL or book online at
» READ MORE: www.amtrak.com
and refer to fare code V759 when making reservations.
Virginia A. Smith, The Inquirer's gardening writer, will blog from the Flower Show at
kisstheearth
For Inquirer coverage of the show, including
a video of preparations, go
to
com/phillyflowers