Last-minute preps underway ahead of Philadelphia Flower Show

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia Flower Show opens to the public on Saturday, which means its crunch time on the floor of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

This year's theme is "Holland: Flowering the World." Renee Tucci from Valley Forge Flowers explains the Philadelphia Horticultural Society came to them with their vision for the central feature exhibit.

"We are bringing the central feature exhibit to life," said Tucci.

Thursday morning they worked on the window boxes for the bridge; next on the to-do list were hanging baskets for the lampposts. But perhaps the most time intensive was the hanging garden.

"We had to cut every single string - 3,600 of them - and place each string exactly where it needs to be on the grids, and make sure all the lengths were correct, and match up the floral spheres to the cords once we got here on site," said Tucci.

Irwin Landscaping has been busy with the installation, planting perennials, trees and shrubs. This year, Alan Irwin says there are more than 35,000 tulips.

"Wednesday during the show, we take all the tulips back out, and put a new supply back in so they look fresh for the rest of the show," said Irwin. "Yeah, it takes all night."

Across the floor, a bike sculpture was coming together, adorned with 15,000 stems of orange flowers - a nod to the House of Orange.

"Though Holland is known for bikes, we took it back to the beginning of the bike-sharing program, from 1965-1967," said Bill Schaffer, Schaffer Designs. "From orchids to epidemdrun to gloriosa lilies - you name it - we got it if it's orange."

Thousands of people contribute to this body of work. Even though it's a massive effort, Action News is told it's worth it.

"All the work and sleepless nights were worth it. It's incredible to see it in real life and have it be exactly what we had intended," said Tucci.

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