March 16, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Top prizes for Wyndmoor firm at Phila. Flower Show
by PETE BEISSER

Kevin Burke in the greenhouse inspecting the roses, with grape vines, that were used in the exhibit.

Sean Burke sat on a tall folding chair last Sunday, gladly answering the questions of the constant stream of attendees filing out of his “Earthly Delights” exhibit at the 2006 Philadelphia Flower Show, which featured hundreds of gardeners and more than 10,000 flowers and plants.

On this rainy afternoon, the last of the celebrated eight-day long show, the number one inquiry posed to the landscape contractor about the display revolved around the dark reflecting pool. It’s situated outside the wine cave Burke Brothers Landscape Contractors created toward the back of the Pennsylvania Convention Center main exhibit hall.

“Is that a mirror?” one inquisitive woman asked seconds after another posed the very same question.

“No, it’s black dye in the water,” Burke answered warmly.

Sean proudly holds up the award representing the remarkable accomplishment by the Wyndmoor firm. (Photo by Pete Beisser)

The Glenside native should know. Burke, 38, and his brother Kevin, 40, led the team that built the elaborate, award-winning display in question — a 2,200 square-foot backyard wine experience inspired by the vineyards found in Napa Valley, California. The stone cave centerpiece they built for this year’s show was filled with aged oak wine barrels and leads out into a tasting courtyard surrounded by various horticultural delights. Grape vines were even used to add the extra element of realism to the display.

This year, the local landscape design/build/management firm’s eighth exhibiting at the largest indoor flower show in the world, the Wyndmoor-based company hit a grand slam. Besides the adulation from the show-goers, these local landscape contractors earned the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Flower Show Award for Best in Show for Landscape, as well as the Governor’s Trophy, the most prestigious award given at the show for use of structure in an exhibit.

“It’s a fun exhibit,” Sean said. “We’ve been toying with the idea for a while.”

The idea became the pick for this year’s exhibit after the staff of Burke Brothers Landscape Contractors traveled to Napa Valley last summer.

“It was something I wanted to do for the last three years,” Kevin said. “I’m in love with that area, the whole Napa Valley area, Sonoma – that part of California. There’s respect for the horticulture there. It’s just incredible.”

After months of planning for the annual show, five-and-a-half days was all the time allotted for exhibitors to set up the nearly 550 shrubs and trees and 1,200 flowering plants inside their allotted space in the Convention Center. Nearly 80 different varieties of plants and shrubs and eight different types of trees were used by the Burkes to replicate the popular destination of wine aficionados. To add another element of fun, 10,000 wine corks were added to the flower beds throughout the exhibits.

During the judging of major exhibitors that takes place the Saturday before the first day of the show, the judges also scored the Burke brothers 100 points out of a possible 100 points for their work. The recreation of that Napa Valley mood, through colors and textures of plants native to the Philadelphia area and others that are not, was also well-received by all those who paid for admission to the show.

“We wanted to make it that you’d want to go in and grab a bottle and go outside and enjoy it,” Kevin said.

The Burkes – who proudly call Chestnut Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods home to several of their regular residential clients – also hope that people who went through the exhibit during the show grabbed one of their business cards. With a predicted attendance of nearly 250,000 for the show, the $75,000 investment to create the exhibit was money well worth spending for the potential job leads it might create, the brothers say.

The pair began Burke Brothers Landscape Contractors back in 1987. Yet it wasn’t until 1999 that they took the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s invitation to come show off their talents during the annual March showcase. Eight exhibits and eight shows later, the brothers say they’re aware of what must go into being a major exhibitor at the nation’s first flower show. Last year, they built the show’s central figure exhibit.

“We learned it’s a lot harder than it looks,” Sean said. “You have to do whatever it takes to get it done.”

After trial and error with their first few exhibits, Kevin believes they’ve figured out what it takes to showcase their skills for beautifying the outdoors, indoors.

“We know what we’re doing now,” he said. “We know how to get it done.”

According to the Burkes, numerous show attendees who walked through the exhibit were local acquaintances throughout the Delaware Valley who came up to congratulate them on the job well done.

“They’re proud one of the premier contract landscapers is within reach,” Sean said. “They’re ecstatic. That really leaves a warm and special feeling.”

So what elaborate landscaping will show attendees be posing questions about next year when they approach either of the Burke brothers? The brothers claim they’ll take some time off before finalizing next year’s concept, but they say they’re already thinking.

“We’re already throwing some ideas around,” Sean said.

For more information about the award-winning exhibit or other services offered by the company, call 215-887-1773 or visit www.burkebrothers.com.