Gene London: From Beloved TV Host to Hollywood Collection Curator

A.D. Amorosi and Gene London

By A.D. AMOROSI

The world-renowned Philadelphia Flower Show is in full swing through March 8, 2015, and with it comes a classic Hollywood theme. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, hosts of the Flower Show, held a red carpet premiere on February 28 featuring clips of Philly-filmed favorites (Rocky, Mannequin, Blow Out, etc.) and an entrance garden with an Art Deco theater façade, chandeliers with hanging moss, rings of calla lilies and towering palms. The flowers are delightful, but the biggest star of that night, and of the entire PFS, is Gene London and his Hollywood Collection. London is a one-time local children's show host who, after his program's end, became both an expert on and collector of Hollywood’s rarest costumes.

Pennsylvania Farm Show Opens this Weekend in Harrisburg, PA

Butter sculpture at the 2015 Pennsylvania Farm Show

By A.D. AMOROSI

The 99th edition of the Pennsylvania Farm Show starts in Harrisburg, PA on Saturday, January 10, 2015. With it comes everything from lumberjack competitions, hay bale tosses, a sheep-to-shawl contest and an appearance by Food Network chef Aaron McCargo Jr. (from Big Daddy’s House) making dishes from Pennsylvania-preferred goods on the Culinary Connections stage of the Farm Show Complex & Expo Center. Before this week long celebration, the event’s annual butter sculpture was unveiled on January 8 with raw materials donated by Land O’ Lakes Butter of Carlisle, PA.

Philadelphia’s Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival Ends with Glamorous Gala

Kathy Zapp of Montgomery Media and Kazumi Teune, Executive Director of the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia

By GLAMOROSI

Every year the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia takes place in April with parties and exhibits taking place throughout the city. This weekend, on April 26, the month-long calendar of events came to a close with the 2013 Blossom Bash, a gala held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt at the Bellevue.

Philadelphia International Flower Show 2012 - Hawaii: Islands of Aloha

By REESE AMOROSI

The Philadelphia International Flower Show takes place every year in March; it is the largest indoor exhibition of its type in the world. It is a competitive event produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, with plant enthusiasts from around the globe vying for ribbons in almost 600 categories. The show is so well known that Saturday Night Live recently mentioned it in a sketch about what it would be like if Ricky Gervais hosted events other than the Golden Globe Awards.

On Saturday, March 3, the Philadelphia International Flower Show held its black tie preview party at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For this year's Flower Show the theme is Hawaii: Islands of Aloha, so attendees received colorful leis as they entered the reception.  Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were served as guests enjoyed a sneak peek at the show's features including the Orchid Wave - a sculptural walk-through exhibit that surrounded viewers with projections of waves, sea turtles and fish - massive displays of tropical flora, and a 25 foot waterfall.

A.D. (my husband) and I spent a lot of time admiring the exotic plants. My favorite entry in the entire show was the Nopalxochia phyllanthoides ‘Deutsche Kaiserin’, commonly known as the "Pond Lily Cactus" (shown above). A.D. was partial to the Veltheimia bracteata, also known as the "Forest Lily" (shown at right). Both of the award-winning specimens were from the greenhouses of socialite and philanthropist Mrs. Samuel M.V. Hamilton aka Dorrance "Dodo" Hamilton, a legendary exhibitor.

Philadelphia Style Magazine hosted a separate party inside of the party for their current cover model, designer Tory Burch. She wore an elegant long dress with bugle beads and a handkerchief hem. Publicist Nicole Cashman was flawless in a black and white patterned chiffon gown, and the best shoes of the evening were patent leather oxfords worn by a man my husband introduced to me as "Jimmy" - I later found out he was stylist James Glenn, who is known for luxury accessories.

My always-dashing husband wore a Gucci tuxedo with a scarf tie. I wore a vintage dress that my Mother gave me; she first wore it in the 1950s (she used to let me try it on when I was so young it fit me like a too-long gown).  The dress is red hibiscus-colored taffeta with a matching chiffon overlay. You can see photos of us separately below, and HughE Dillon snapped a photo of us together for PhillyChitChat.com

A.D. and I left the party a little early to dine at Le Bec-Fin and wish Chef Georges Perrier well on his last night in his world-famous restaurant - I'll tell you about that in my next post.

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2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show
Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th & Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107-2299

Sunday, March 4 – Sunday, March 11, 2012
For ticket info and hours click here

Photos of plants by Reese Amorosi aka Glamorosi 
Photo of Reese Amorosi by A.D. Amorosi

To read A.D.'s Flower Show review in Philadelphia City Paper click here.

For more posts about food, tea, fashion, gardening and events: Glamorosi.blogspot.com

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Moon Tree Ceremony - Philadelphia PA

In February of 1971, astronaut Stuart A. Roosa carried several thousand seeds into space on Apollo 14 as part of a joint project between the U.S. Forest Service and NASA. On May 6, 1975, a sycamore “Moon Tree” grown from one of those seeds was planted in Philadelphia’s Washington Square Park.

Several years ago the National Park Service – the agency that manages the park and routinely monitors for dangerous, damaged or dying flora - realized that the Moon Tree was ailing. They enlisted the help of The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, who cloned the sycamore by taking cuttings.

On September 24, 2011, a ceremony was held in Washington Square to plant the new Moon Tree clone. Park Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod and Colonel Christopher Roosa (son of Stuart Roosa) gave speeches, and then a worker with a chainsaw took down the original Moon Tree. The crowd yelled “timber” in unison when it fell.

Next, Anthony S. Aiello, Director of Horticulture and Curator from theMorris Arboretum, took the podium and explained tree cloning. Then each of the speakers took turns placing soil at the base of the sapling.

The Moon Tree in Washington Square was “my” tree, in the sense that it was one of my favorites in Philadelphia, I visited it on a regular basis over the years, and I mourned its passing. You cannot even imagine how thrilled I was when the director of the park invited members of the audience to help plant the new Moon Tree.

Unfortunately, my camera acted up at that moment, so the nice lady who offered to take my picture didn’t get a photo of me participating in the ceremony. I am normally squirrelly about having my picture taken by strangers, but this is one case when I’m hoping someone got a photo of me holding a shovel, and that it will surface online (I was wearing a beige dress with tree branches printed on it and a beige silk cardigan, just in case any of you have a photo, or perhaps see one).

Here is a fascinating Science Daily article about the Moon Trees:

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (2011, February 10).
Race against time to find Apollo 14's lost voyagers: 'Moon trees'.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110209171139.htm

Photos by Glamorosi:

Top: (L to R) Park Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod, Colonel Christopher Roosa and Anthony S. Aiello from the Morris Arboretum stand with the clone; the original Moon Tree, cut down, is in the foreground.

Middle: The original Moon Tree, falling after a worker makes a few strategic cuts.

Bottom: Marker for the original Moon Tree, planted as part of the USA's Bicentennial celebration. You can click on the photo to read the inscription.

To read more posts about food, tea, fashion, gardening and events: http://Glamorosi.blogspot.com

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