Flower Show

It may not be April in Paris, but here in America the joie de vivre of a French spring will burst forth in vivid bloom at the early March opening of the celebrated Philadelphia Flower Show.This year's horticultural event will fill the senses in an eight-day celebration of the beauty, culture, fragrance and flavor of the finest the French have to offer.For the first time since the show's inception in 1829, culinary events will also be featured. Even at a garden show, one must not forget the French cuisine.

Happy 100th GeorgeHelp celebrate American composer George Gershwin's 100th birthday with pianist Harvey Jacobson, soprano Elizabeth Lyra Ross (pictured) and baritone Richard Tyler at a Salute to Gershwin 7: 30 p.m. Saturday at Shriver Hall on the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. General admission costs $16, $13 for seniors, $10 for full-time students and $1 off per ticket for groups of 10 or more. Call 410-516-7157.Heavy metalWatch 10,000 pound, super-charged, metal-monster trucks flatten everything in sight when the U.S. Hot Rod Grand Slam Monster Jam take over the Baltimore Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Grave Digger, Carolina Crusher and Monster Patrol will grind a pile of mangled cars into the dirt track while Mini Monster trucks zip around.

Jon Cook doesn't promise you a rose garden. Instead, he'll create a low-maintenance backyard paradise with dwarf shrubs, miniature flowering trees, lush ferns, blooming perennials, a patio, waterfalls and ponds, arched trellises and meandering brick pathways.You will be able to see examples of Cook's work starting tomorrow at the Maryland Home & Flower Show at the State Fairgrounds in Timonium.All week Cook and his son, David, have been hauling mulch and thousands of plants to the show site in the Cow Palace, working long hours to create a 3,000-square-foot spring oasis for visitors.

Spring will make an early debut next weekend, when the Maryland Home & Flower Show begins at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.Professional landscapers are creating 20 gardens to fill the exhibition halls with signs of spring. At the entrance, Jon Cook of Low Maintenance Landscaping in Ellicott City will feature waterfalls cascading down a hill into a pond. "Water is really soothing," Cook said. "And it is one of the lowest-maintenance things you can think of."The garden will include a gazebo, patio, arched entryways, stone walls and meandering walkways.

EACH YEAR, Union Mills Homestead holds its Flower Mart and Antique Show. But this year the celebration will be expanded because this is the year of the Homestead's 200th anniversary."

Judging from the crowds visiting the Maryland Home & Flower Show at the Timonium Fairgrounds, a similar turnout next weekend should push attendance over the 100,000 mark, show organizers said.That would top last year's record of 70,000 easily. The annual event has been held in the fairgrounds' Cow Palace and Exhibit Hall for one weekend only for the past four years.The 1996 show features 450 exhibitors -- mostly home improvement and landscaping contractors, florists, craftsmen, artists and educators -- and is "definitely better than in past years," said Brenda Spowart of Perry Hall.

Ocean City Flower ShowThis weekend, Ocean City celebrates the arrival of spring with its second annual Flower Show. The show will begin tomorrow with a floral display competition, in which the general public is invited to participate. Visitors can enjoy floral exhibits as well as an arts and crafts show, which will include the work of more than 100 artisans.On Saturday, Roger Swain, host of the PBS program "The Victory Garden," will present several seminars on gardening, which will be followed by book signings.

Shady Side group sponsors $10,000 raffleShady Side Rural Heritage Society is sponsoring a $10,000 raffle to be held in October.Only 2,000 tickets will be sold at $10 each for the annual fund-raiser that helps the society pay its annual mortgage on Captain Salem Avery House Museum.The drawing will be Oct. 12 at the society's Working and Sporting Dog Exhibition at Cedarhurst Community Center.Information: (301) 261-5234 or (410) 867-2660.Garden club schedules flower show in AnnapolisFour Rivers Garden Club will have a flower show from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 12 at Charles Carroll House on the grounds of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Annapolis.

FOR GARDENERS, it's a daily battle against Japanese beetles, weeds and unpredictable weather.The flower bud that seems days away from flowering suddenly pops open in the morning sun, reaching its full potential unexpectedly and leaving the gardener to search for another to take its place.That's the dilemma facing some members of Mount Airy Garden Club as they prepare for the club's first flower show in years. The event, "A Novel Idea," will be held Thursday at Mount Airy branch library.Hundreds of annual and perennial flowers are needed to fill arrangements.

Judging from the crowds visiting the Maryland Home & Flower Show at the Timonium Fairgrounds, a similar turnout next weekend should push attendance over the 100,000 mark, show organizers said.That would top last year's record of 70,000 easily. The annual event has been held in the fairgrounds' Cow Palace and Exhibit Hall for one weekend only for the past four years.The 1996 show features 450 exhibitors -- mostly home improvement and landscaping contractors, florists, craftsmen, artists and educators -- and is "definitely better than in past years," said Brenda Spowart of Perry Hall.

Pity the poor mum. Once the symbol of Chinese royal houses, it has been reduced to a spot in the parking lot of big box stores. There is a place where chrysanthemums get the respect they deserve - the Baltimore Conservatory in Druid Hill Park where, until Nov. 15, mums will be the center of attention. All kinds of mums, from the giant football mums to the delicate spider mums to the humble garden mums. "Mums don't have the same status in the garden," agreed Kathryn Blom, who supervises the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and the Botanic Gardens.

Michael Bromery sat alone, engulfed in a forest of green, alternately playing a Japanese melody called "Esaka" on his acoustic guitar and self-made bamboo flute against the sound of mini-waterfalls. "People come here to relax and for peace of mind," he said, referring to The Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore, which is hosting its annual Flower Show, a large display of brightly colored tulips and snow-white lilies, through Sunday. There are innumerable reasons why people find pleasure at the conservatory, which was built nearly 120 years ago, as illustrated yesterday by individuals, couples and families who leisurely made their way past thousands of plants and flowers.

The magnolia has long been declared by both horticulturists and homeowners to be one of the, if not the, most elegant flowering tree for the spring landscape. And with the show they put on this year, it's hard to disagree. With this past winter being such a mild one, it's been a bumper year for blossoms on this magnificent family of trees. One of the showiest magnolias is the saucer magnolia, also known as Magnolia x soulangiana. This is the tree with the huge purplish-pink blossoms that resemble tea cups in both size (the petals can extend outward 8 to 12-inches)

Why is going someplace with you always such an adventure?" It was my daughter's lamentation, expressed at the age of 6, when we got terribly lost going to the Kennedy Center in Washington. It was during our ballet phase. She said it again last year when I took her to the Philadelphia Flower Show. We got terribly lost on the way home, and she huffed at me in too-familiar irritation. But I made the trip to Philadelphia for the flower show with confidence this year, my friend Lisette riding in the seat Jessie had understandably vacated.

THROUGH WEDNESDAY SCULPTURE EXHIBIT See works by Taiwanese sculptor Shin-Yu Wang at the exhibit Distant Visions, through Wednesday at Baltimore Clayworks, 5707 Smith Ave. 410-578-1919 or baltimoreclayworks.org for hours. TODAY THROUGH MARCH 12 PHILLY FLOWER SHOW Travel through more than 10 acres of gardens, attend lectures, watch demonstrations on flower arranging and gardening, browse products from exhibitors and more, at the Philadelphia Flower Show, today through March 12 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets, Philadelphia.

At this time of year, when winter hangs on stubbornly, you need not head toward the equator for a sustaining dose of spring. Simply head north to the Philadelphia Flower Show. At 177 years old, it is the oldest, largest and certainly the most ambitious display of horticulture in the United States. Covering 10 acres in the cavernous Pennsylvania Convention Center beginning tomorrow and continuing through next Sunday, the flower show annually attracts more than a quarter of a million garden enthusiasts during its weeklong stay.

Stuffed into a cinderblock high-rise in college, I bought a cheap brandy snifter at the hardware store. It was not so much a drink container (well, not so much) as an elegant vase to hold the wild chicory, dandelion, Queen Anne's lace and other weeds that grew in the cracks in the sidewalks and along the roadside. An empty soup can would have served, but the graceful lines of the glass enhanced the meager wildflower bouquets and raised them to the realm of dormitory chic. "If you've got a really good-looking container, you're way ahead of the game," says Muffin Evander, head of the garden committee at Ladew Topiary Gardens and owner of Cultivated Designs by Muffin in Baltimore.

In a break with tradition, the Flower Mart show will go on tomorrow without the mayor of Baltimore - but as a consolation, it will not have to pay for using city streets and services. Organizers of the flower show were miffed when city officials told them recently that Flower Mart@Mount Vernon Ltd., the nonprofit organization that runs the celebration, would be charged $2,500 in advance for transportation and police services. The event, a city tradition for 91 years, had never been charged for such services.

SPRING'S CHILLY, wet start hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of Mount Airy Garden Club. Eager to finish a project that began in the fall, the club's 17 members are looking forward to warmer, drier spring days that signal the beginning of gardening season. The club, which has been in existence since 1934, is responsible for many of the gardens that flourish around Mount Airy. A flower garden at the public library, mass plantings of daffodils and daylilies at the Interstate 70 triangle, landscaping at Pine Grove Chapel and seasonal displays at the senior center, library and tourist center are club projects.

Bob Evans eatery scheduled to open in Columbia 100 park MDG Companies of Columbia and Naples, Fla., has announced the sale of several sites in its Columbia 100 Office/Residential Park. A Bob Evans Restaurant will open by April 30. The family-oriented chain restaurant -- the second to open in Howard County -- is under construction, adjacent to the Marriott Residence Inn. JPB Enterprises and Holland Properties broke ground March 1 for an 85,000-square-foot office building in the park. MDG Companies plans a 100,000-square-foot office complex for the last undeveloped portion of the park.