PORTLAND, Maine — Trudge through the heavy industrial doors at Portland Yacht Services, and you smell spring before you see it.
Mulch, tulips, grass, dirt. Ahhh, the sensory hints of the season to come are about to bloom for the 18th annual Portland Flower Show, and not a nanosecond too soon.
“People need this now,” said Justina Marcisso-Hussey, administrative coordinator for the five-day show that opens with a gala Wednesday night.
About 14,000 people are expected to tour gardens and patios, attend lectures on lilacs and medicinal herbs, or just stop and smell the primroses during the horticultural celebration.
“The energy is high. People are very excited about color, other than white or gray,” Marcisso-Hussey said.
In cavernous bays typically used for servicing boats, Zachary Campbell and his wife, Katey, prepped their lush display. Playing with the show’s theme, “A Taste of Spring,” the landscape designers from Topsham planted the equivalent of a deer smorgasbord.
Purple and yellow tulips, hostas and cedars. A pink magnolia tree flowers in the corner. Lettuce, kale and swiss chard grow from hollowed-out logs. A deer would go to town on this display.
“We want this to be educational but fun,” Zachary said.
For weeks, the couple has been tending to their greens, shrubs and flowers in a greenhouse to force spring.
“Quite a bit of work goes into this,” Katey Campbell admitted. “Timing is everything.”
Speaking of timing, the exhibitors, who are judged by the public and a team of horticultural experts, have 4½ days to create a spring habitat.
Landscapers and hardscapers constructed ponds and pools, built retaining walls and laid down perfect patios. Greenthumbs got busy with hoes and rakes.
“People in Maine want their outdoor living,” Jon Snell of West Bath’s Jaiden Landscaping said.
Next to a pool his team was creating was an outdoor firepit with an expansive barbecue area and wine refrigerator. All the amenities of inside, outside. “Landscaping has evolved so much,” said Snell, who is eager to show off what his company can do as soon as the snow melts. “This is good for the industry. Holding it toward the end of the winter, when people are talking about spring, helps.”
Several landscapers forced early blooms in greenhouses; others ordered flowers and plants from southern states like North Carolina. “We are trying to trick Mother Nature,” Matt Shaw, owner of Picture Perfect Landscapes in Bowdoinham, said. “The whole goal is to create spring weather.”
To do that, he was building a deck with a pergola, creating a waterfall with river rocks and planting pink hydrangeas and primroses fast and furiously. “It’s a stressful 4½ days, but we are fired up for spring,” Shaw said. “Everyone is looking for color. Flowers are a welcome sight. Everyone is itching to get out in the garden.”
To scratch that itch, vendors will be selling seeds, garden equipment, everything you need to get out and dig in the dirt.
The cumulaitve message is winter is on its way out.
“People come from Texas, Vermont, Down East. Many people plan their ski vacations around this,” Marcisso-Hussey said. “I don’t care what is going on outside, this is a rite of spring. There is so much to see and do, people don’t want to leave,”
The Portland Flower Show runs Thursday through Sunday, Portland Company, 58 Fore St., Portland. Tickets are $15. For more information, visit portlandcompany.com/flower or call 207-775-4403.
