March Showers Bring Macy’s Flowers

Macy’s Herald Square (Photo: NYCfoto)

Every year, Macy’s Herald Square celebrates spring and transforms it’s main floor into a virtual garden. The annual event starts around the end of March and lasts two weeks.

I was lucky enough to be in New York City when the 2004 flower show opened. “Water and Color” was the theme, and the show did not disappoint.

At the store’s Broadway entrance, there was a 10-foot-high umbrella covered with white flowers and ivy. Called the “Shower of Flowers Garden,” glistening jewels streamed down from the umbrella looking very much like gentle spring rain showering another garden below.

The center aisle of the store was transformed into an avenue flanked on both sides by blossoming cherry trees.

Honestly, it was breathtaking, and a scent-sational floral fragrance filled the air throughout the entire first floor.

Among handbags, cosmetics, and jewelry there were 16 specialty gardens plus thousands of cut flowers, potted plants, and trees—more than 30,000 varieties in all including cacti, tropical plants, tulips, rhododendrons, azaleas, peonies, and hydrangeas.

(Photo: NYCfoto)

(Photo: NYCfoto)

It was quite a stunning sight.

How do they keep all of these flowers fresh and blooming? Halfway through the show’s run, a small army of 60 workers replaces the entire exhibit overnight with fresh blooms.

The show is free. Don’t miss it!