Behind the Scenes at The Flower Show

Each year when the Macy’s Flower Show takes shape and bursts into bloom at Herald Square, the flowers themselves take center stage, but behind the scenes, there are dozens of people working on designing, building and planting each element of the gardens. Peter Gustafson, from Ireland Gannon Associates, a firm that designs and builds landscapes, is the project coordinator for the Macy’s Flower Show.

Ireland Gannon, widely known as one of the best landscaping companies on Long Island, has assisted in the production of the Macy’s Flower Shows for over 25 years. They work on both he Herald Square store and t he Chicago flagship’s flower show as well. As project coordinator, Gustafson oversees all of the production and planting of the Flower Show, in-cluding oversight of garden designs and the plant sourcing. This year design and sourcing presented special new challenges, with the show’s tropical theme and the move outdoors.

“This year, because the show’s theme is Brasil, much of the plant and flower material is coming directly from our sources in Florida and other tropical greenhouse growers,” Gustafson says. “These will be transported directly into New York City by tractor trailer.” It’s not just the specialized plants that present a challenge, this year’s show is like nothing Macy’s or Ireland Gannon has ever done.

“Everything is different and must be re-invented,” says Gustafson. “From the way the gardens look, to their installation and maintenance. Even how we transport and feed our installation crews is different this year.”

Long before visitors stroll through ooohing, ahhhing and sniffing, Gustafson’s team will be hard at work building and planting the show, which takes approximately a week to set up. Planting the gardens and Macy’s window displays takes four full nights of work. And, they’re not off the hook once the show begins. Every night maintenance — watering, primping and plant replacement as needed — has to be performed throughout.

Gustafson said that so far, some of the favorite new plants to peek their heads out of this year’s riotous tropical display have been the live chocolate trees and colorful Bromeliads. He also not-ed that orchids seem to a always draw a crowd.

Flower Show executive producer, Robin Hall, explained that as spring time has gotten warmer and more condensed, many of the n nurseries that Macy’s w work with have had to g go through complicated routines to keep plants from blooming ahead of schedule. “The weather has been so strange for past seven or eight years,” says Hall. “It’s very tough for the lower show because they force these plants — thousands of flowers, which usually bloom at different times of the year — to open around flower show time. They do this in greenhouses, but when it’s too warm they get into this dance where they have to take the plants out of the heat and move them outside then move them back in.”

And don’t worry, all the hard work that goes into the show does not go unrewarded. “All of our associates visit the show as ‘ civilians’ during the weeks it’s open,” says Gustafson. “Our greatest satisfaction comes from listening to the visitors, hearing their positive comments and seeing their surprised reactions to Macy’s creations.”

What happens to all those thousands of flowers when the show is over? “They go back to the nursery,” Hall says. “Perennials are saved, annuals mulched, the pots recycled, and then the mulch

goes to some someone else’s garden.”