Growing ambition
at the Flower Show

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Big exhibitors make the annual Philadelphia Flower Show.
Regardless of the theme chosen each year for the nation’s oldest and largest indoor event of its kind, major participants like the host Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Men’s Garden Club of Philadelphia and the American Institute of Floral Designers keep the crowds coming year after year.
A quarter-million garden enthusiasts and curiosity-seekers are expected to converge upon the Pennsylvania Convention Center to gaze at the colorful and aromatic displays sponsored by major exhibitors, who generally pay hefty sums of money to area nurseries and landscaping firms to ensure professional presentations.
But while those large installations bring the grandeur and glory to the event, it’s the individual amateur exhibitors who supply the heart and soul — folks like 18-year-old Parkwood resident Brandon Huber.
Huber will enter his own plants in the Philadelphia Flower Show for the third consecutive year as the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society presents the 180th installment of the event from March 2 to 9. The theme, Jazz It Up, is a tribute to the culture of New Orleans and its continuing recovery from devastating Hurricane Katrina.
Huber will register single plants in 52 competition categories during the eight days, joining thousands of other individual entrants from throughout the East Coast and beyond, including many from Northeast Philadelphia.
Less than a year removed from his days at Archbishop Ryan High School, Huber, now a student at the Community College of Philadelphia, does not fit the typical demographic of green thumb found at the flower show. Most individual exhibitors are older, much older in fact, he says. But his enthusiasm for the pastime and strong knowledge of the science behind it far exceed his years.
"A lot of times, they’re not expecting a young kid," Huber said of his past forays into the competitive arena.
"Everybody who meets him is taken aback by his knowledge," added Ron Huber, Brandon’s father and longtime cohort on gardening activities. "I kid him that I’ve been his migrant help for all of these years."
The younger Huber credits his grandparents and parents for exposing him to gardening and horticulture at a young age. Huber has been attending the flower show since he was a little boy and has bought many young plants from its vendors.
Cacti and other succulents first attracted him when he was 8 or 9 years old. Meanwhile, he began helping mom Judy and dad in their backyard vegetable garden.
As time passed, Brandon expanded the garden and "took it over," dad says. Meanwhile, his collection of cacti and other succulent species continued to expand. Later, his interest turned to insect-eating carnivores like the Venus flytrap, along with large tropical plants like banana trees and giant-leafed elephant ear plants.
Now he has as many as 70 specimens, mostly in pots in his bedroom and around the family’s townhouse.
"The plants I grow are unusual. A lot of things are real big," he said.
"If I see something that’s interesting, I’ll get it. Then I’ll start collecting (different species) from that group. The plants I have, I’ll keep, then I’ll move my interest to another group," Huber added.
When spring arrives, he begins the tedious process of transferring everything from the house to the ground behind it.
"In summer, it looks like a dense rainforest out there," he said. "A lot of the neighbors say, ‘Wow.’ They want to come in and see the inside of it."
Huber and his parents do a lot of growing elsewhere, too. They cultivate two 30-foot-by-30-foot plots in the community gardens at Benjamin Rush State Park. Judy Huber was first to join the garden association. The men of the family followed.
Now, Ron Huber is president of the association, while he and Brandon grow a farmer’s market full of produce there.
Brandon is proud of his pumpkin patch that last fall produced an 85-pound pumpkin. It still sits in the family’s living room; the pumpkin’s thick walls have helped it survive intact.
They also grow watermelons, cantaloupes, eggplants, carrots, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and corn. Growing season runs from April to October.
"We’ll go every other day and spend an hour or two," said Ron Huber, who works in the city’s maintenance garage for police and fire vehicles.
Aside from that practical experience, Brandon studies horticulture endlessly in books and on the Internet. He has joined various organizations, including the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Liberty Bell Gesneriad Society and the Carnivorous Plant Society to exchange thoughts and samples with others like him. He has taken jobs at several local nurseries to expand his knowledge.
Huber demonstrates the same dedication to preparing plants for the Philadelphia Flower Show. He has to, because his submissions will go head to head against many others cultivated in elaborate greenhouses, as well as several proven winners of the past.
For the show, he opts to concentrate his efforts on smaller species of plants because they are most manageable within his space limitations.
He has won two awards in past shows. Last year, he earned honorable mention for a "pitcher" plant — a carnivore that collects airborne moisture in its scoop-shaped foliage and uses it to trap its prey, such as gnats.
Two years ago, he got honorable mention in the cactus and succulent class for an agave, a plant similar to that used to make tequila.
Huber entered only a handful of specimens in each of those shows. But with so many entries this year, he’s hoping to bring home a lot more awards.
In recent weeks, Huber has been using nutrient-rich fertilizers and heat lamps to "force" his plants into bloom ahead of their natural schedule. It’s a complex yet inexact process.
One of his flowering plants stood about a foot tall last week. But with the right care, Huber expects it to grow several inches a day leading up to the show and reach 4 to 5 feet in height.
He’s also working on some "challenge" plants distributed by the horticultural society last fall. Each year, the society chooses three species and distributes immature samples to competitors.
"You’ll pick your plant and grow it over the winter," Huber said. "It’s really what you do with it that will make it grow."
Huber hopes that one day he’ll be able to apply his expertise in a professional setting. His first objective, however, is to get into Temple University’s horticulture school in Ambler.
"The more you learn, there’s a lot more out there (to learn)," he said. "And there will always be new plants coming out and new ways of growing them." ••
For more information about the Philadelphia Flower Show, visit www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org or call 215-988-8810.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com