Each year, garden enthusiasts from across New England look forward to a special summer event hosted by the Newport Mansions. Held at Rosecliff, the Newport Flower Show is a three-day celebration of plants, flowers, gardening and landscaping. Everything from cut flowers to table arrangements to topiaries and full outdoor gardens creates quite a scene to take in.
The casual visitor might not be aware, but the show is also a competitive event. There are many categories with entries striving for the blue ribbon, from the basic cut roses and allium to creative classes for a parasol made of plant material to a design inspired by the Vanderbilt’s Chinese Tea House.
Here are a few photos, courtesy of the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscaping Association, which played a big part in setting up the gardens and exhibits. For more photos, there’s another full gallery available at About.com.
PS- For those of you needing awards as beautiful as those given out at the Flower Show, the rosettes shown are Ideals and Wheatons with gold rims.