Macy’s Flower Show 2012

Behold the topiary toucan. Please excuse the fisheye lens.

Every year, Macy’s teams up with Bachman’s, a local garden center, for a spring flower show on the department store’s eighth floor in downtown Minneapolis. I don’t recall how long the flower show has been going on, but I’m grateful that Macy’s carries on the tradition, which was started many years ago by Dayton’s and continued by Marshall Field’s.

It’s strangely warm in Minnesota this spring but, typically, the flower show comes at a time when seeing an actual plant in bloom is nothing short of amazing. This year’s theme is “Brasil: Gardens in Paradise” and admission, as always, is free.

There’s a lot to rave about this year, but I was most impressed by the gorgeous topiary toucan at the show’s entrance. Crafted by artists at Macy’s Parade Studio, the toucan features plumage made from “meticulously arranged” magnolia leaves. I’ll say! And what might all of those delicate flowers be on the bird’s beak and chest? Why those are thousands of Brazilian button flowers that were applied by Bachman’s floral designers.

Winding paths through the gardens make the room seem larger than it is.

I couldn’t begin to name all the plants that were in bloom, but some of my favorites were bird of paradise, bromeliads, calatheas, calla lilies and orchids. I love orchids. I usually kill them when I grow them myself, but I love them.

Azaleas were everywhere in reds, pinks and yellows. And there were plenty of rhododendrons and magnolias, as well as spectacular tree-form wisteria.

But I have to say, even though they’re less showy, it was the wide array of green plants with no blooms to speak of that really created the lush, tropical feel. Ferns, grasses aglaonema, alocasia, crotons, ornamental pineapple, succulents —there were way too many to name.

I loved little details like these tree slices that were painted on the floor in different parts of the room.

Notice the cool floor painting.

Fisheye again. It's weird, but it really helps when you want to show big parts of the room.

This is where everybody sits to take pictures.