by Diane M. Fiske

Chris DiVito, landscape architect and chief designer of Burke Brothers, of Wyndmoor, said this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show gives him a chance to create a display that includes some of his family’s personal history in Italy, on the Riviera.

The theme of the show, which begins on Saturday, Feb. 29, is Riviera Holiday, which focuses on the French and Italian Mediterranean coastline between Cannes in France and La Spezia in Italy. 

 “In designing this year’s exhibit, I am drawing from my own family’s gardens, including the outdoor ovens and grounds that resemble my cousin’s yard in Venafro where I stayed many times,” he said.

The area, south of Rome, which is the location of both his mother’s and father’s origins, include yards with big arbors with cedar, vines, citrus and olive trees, he said.

“Everything had a second use and served many functions,” DiVito said.

He said he tried to recreate this multi-functional quality in the scene he created for Burke Brothers for this year’s flower show.

The Burke Brothers display in their 38- by 40-foot site will include two buildings set close together, with enough space between them to plant a useful garden with flowers and vegetables.

“We will have two large plywood buildings showing with the exterior walls for one and the interior for the other,” he said. “Lights will shine through the exterior walls to make it look occupied.”

The ovens and tables outside, he said, make it evident how important eating together is to a large Italian family like his in the Mediterranean area.

“You can’t visit Monaco without seeing luxury and Lamborghinis,” he said. “But the whole Riviera area is not like that.”

DiVito said, as in past years, Burke Brothers will make a donation to the Sara’s Smiles Foundation, an organization that seeks to help pediatric cancer patients to commemorate Kevin and Jennifer Burke’s daughter Sara who died in 2008.

Robertson’s Flowers, with headquarters in Chestnut Hill, is also using the theme Riviera Holiday to show how Mediterranean gardens could be related to those in Philadelphia.

Flip Ferry, president and CEO of Robertson’s Flowers, said Robertson’s chief designer created a French courtyard on the beach with three 16-foot-tall buildings and a fountain in the middle.

To create some interest, there is a palm tree in the middle of the courtyard.

He said Robertson’s designer Emmanuelle Williamson, who was not available to be interviewed before the show, “went out of her way to show how Mediterranean gardens could be related to those in Philadelphia.”

He said this year Robertson’s display shows more plants than in past years, particularly, varieties of colorful bougainvillea.

Williamson’s design placed some tables and chairs outside the building to create the atmosphere of a café on the 35 by 50-foot site. It also shows how terra cotta and wrought iron work together. Chairs and tables, decorated with bright blue and yellow, contrast with light yellow sand. This combination shows off the plants well he said.

“We wanted to specify that the climate doesn’t limit what people can do with a site even though you can’t have the same plants you can have on the Riviera in Philadelphia,” he said.

The Philadelphia Flower Show opens to the public Feb. 29 and runs to March 8 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. There is a members and press preview Feb. 28 followed by an opening night party. 

Chestnut Hill resident Diane Fiske writes about architecture and planning. Her work appears regularly here and in the Philadelphia Inquirer.