Voluptuous blooming hydrangeas are the stars of the show.
The oversize pompon flowers — in shades ranging from electric blue to pale pink — accent many of the colorful garden beds laid out inside Edina's Galleria. And the beachball-sized blue orb suspended from a wrought iron gazebo? Yup. That's made of hydrangeas, too.
But the indoor flower show, which explodes with color from one end of the shopping mall to the other, also boasts plenty of supporting players that shine. Take the blazing red tropical bromeliads, the Crayola-colored gerbera daisies and the freesia and jasmine that perfume the air.
For the first time, Bachman's and the Galleria have teamed up to stage a reincarnation of the annual spring flower show. A tradition since the 1960s, first at Minneapolis Dayton's and then Macy's eighth-floor auditorium, the show was a rite of spring until 2016. The downtown Macy's closed last year.
The reinvented show, dubbed "Spring Is in the Air," open through April 8, is a retail version of strolling through a garden with two dozen colorful vignettes bordered by Tiffany & Co., Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton and other upscale stores.
"It's been exciting to create a new experience," said Dale Bachman, chairman of the board of the family-owned garden business. "It's a breath of spring."
Bachman pulled an all-nighter to get the show ready, planting the beds with his crew. On Saturday morning, he was still inserting plant ID tags to make it easy for gardeners to snap photos with labels to copy the combinations in their own gardens and pots. Bachman said many of the flowers will be replaced halfway through the show to keep it fresh.
Although it's not the floral fantasy escape of the past auditorium shows, theatrical designer Jack Barkla has created a spirit-lifting whimsical setting with painted birdhouses and bicycles of trailing jasmine dangling from the ceiling. And kids can hunt for eight purple metal butterflies nestled in trees and tulips.
