Macy's invited Chicago-area garden bloggers for a sneak preview of their annual flower show at the State Street store. Accompanied by My Skinny Garden and Mr.Brown Thumb, we were given a private tour of the show by our guides - Macy's Marisa Reeves, Media Relations Manager, and Jon Jones, Visual Director, along with Todd Pope, Branch Manager for Green View in Oswego, IL. Green View Companies, a landscape, nursery, and design group based near Peoria, IL is the floral partner for this year's show. Todd and Jon described some of the work that went on behind the scenes getting the plants ready for the show, and it was absolutely fascinating.
The 2009 show, themed Dream in Color, is free, and runs from Sunday, April 5th through Sunday, April 19th. If you live in the Chicago area, you won't want to miss it. 
A large percentage of plants grown for the show will thrive in our zone 5 climate. 
Most of the floral displays are located on the first floor on the State Street side of the store - down the main aisle, around the middle fountain, the bridge across from the fountain, in six of the store's windows, and in about every nook and cranny they could find a place for just one more beautiful vignette.
Pink flamingos are a recurring theme, everything from kitchy plastic flamingos in the display in the famous Walnut Room, 
to these two amazing flamingos constructed out of 5,000 pink Kalanchoe flowers.
Todd and Jon described the painstaking process, which included individually removing every leaf.
Near the middle fountain, you'll find this table manned by University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners, partnering again this year with Macy's to take visitors on tours on a first-come, first-served basis every Thursday through Sunday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
Now that the Chicago Garden Show is over, it's time for another flower fix, since little is blooming around here outdoors.
If you've been to Macy's State Street store before, I hope you didn't miss this late-1800's mosaic atrium dome by Louis Comfort Tiffany. If you did, go back and see it! The dome covers 6000 square feet and is the largest Tiffany mosaic in existence.
We got to peek behind the curtain! It was like visiting Oz.
Ah, springtime! 
There were flowers as far as the eye could see.
I can hardly wait to plant out those hydrangea cuttings I overwintered in the basement!
We loved this colorful combination of blooms and glass.
More Flamingos! These were amazing, constructed around the beautiful columns in the main aisle.
Thank you Marisa, Todd, and Jon for taking time from your busy schedules to preview the show for us. It was truly awesome getting this behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to put on a show of this magnitude.
If you're in the Chicago area in the next couple of weeks, stop in at Macy's State Street Store, and tell 'em the garden bloggers sent you!
