Sun. March 16

 Last year, a killer snowstorm kept many wannabes away from the New England Spring Flower Show opening night party March 8. This year, a rainstorm could not accomplish the task – at least for us. Dammit! Mother Nature’s not going to make us shut-ins this time! And, once we made it inside the  ah, green bliss. A lot of wonderful flower arrangements – 192, including some marvelous centerpiece works both futuristic and Rococo by chapters of the Garden Clubs of Massachusetts – and 38 gardens, each a little world unto itself. The theme for this 137th show was “Rhapsody in Green,” appropriate enough since a) green is in vogue everywhere, but b) really, in a flower show, where better a place to demonstrate how beauty and conservation can co-exist.
We ran into Mayor Thomas Menino right away. “No matter what the calendar tells us,” he told us, “when the Flower Show opens in it Spring in Boston. This year, it’s more interactive, bigger and better.”  The previous day, the Mayor outlined a plan for another greenway in the city, this one along the banks of the River Charles, a 100-foot wide greenway over part of Storrow Drive. At a simple, but effective, exhibit at the flower show called “City of Boston: Green Practices” there was a model patch of greenery, complete with spiffy looking recycling bins. A tag read Boston has been named one of the “top ten greenest cities” in America by two major publications. (“Car and Driver? Soldier of Fortune? We’re kidding.) The organizers say the exhibitors in general will prove “eco-friendly gardening does not necessarily mean sacrificing color, plant diversity or the sensuality of the gardening.”
The show, which closes after today, Sunday March 16, has all sorts of stuff like symposiums of rain re-use, green roofs, recycling and xeriscaping – low water gardens. There will be lectures and demonstrations throughout the week.

So, there’s a strong educational component if you want it. One of the things we enjoy most is getting lost in these mini-gardens, while marveling at the craftsmanship of the design. Karen De Rosa, a Flower Show attendee of several years, tipped us to her fave, “the bamboo forest.” It has bamboo trees shooting 30 or so feet up in the air, a pathway, a screened-in duck pond (we counted six quackers) and an aura of utter tranquility. “It’s absolutely stunning,” said Katharine Barrack, of Wellesley, “It’s green, it’s exotic.” She noted it was done by Peter R. Sadeck, who also did the flowers for the Chestnut Hill Mall. “If you hear his name, you’ll see something special.”
There was a very touching, simple display of “what you can do in your own garden” with a model choo-choo train snaking about it. Hung over it, a plaque explaining what Virgin Trains had done with bio diesel fuel last year – putting its first trains on the tracks with a 20 percent mix, aiming for 100 percent – and its planes, flying its first bio diesel flight last month. Yes, the Mass. Horticultural Society does a smash-up job with this event. You drift from exhibit to exhibit both wanting to linger at each and move on to the next villa. We made a couple of round trips. Mary Prince, an editor at New England Journal of Medicine, put it best: “I’m drunk on seeing so much color. It’s the lack of color in winter (in New England) that gets to you.” Your antidote is right in Dorchester. You’ll want to check the website below for details of specific events on the various days. Tickets: $20. The hours vary some, but often it’s 10 am to 9 p.m. Again, check the site.

Mt. Vernon St., Dorchester, 617-933-4983 www.masshort.org