MINNEAPOLIS, MN — As soon as the elevator doors opened on the eighth floor of Macy’s, here, the sweet fragrance of hyacinth, lilies, jasmine, peonies and thousands of other spectacular flowers permeated the air. Twenty-four truckloads of plants and flowers, arranged in 11 different gardens by Bachman’s Inc. and inspired by great works of art, created “Art in Bloom” March 22-April 4 at the Macy’s Spring Flower Show.

“Bachman’s was honored, once again, to provide a stunning array of vibrant flowers, plants and trees for Macy’s Flower Show,” said Dale Bachman, chief executive officer at Bachman’s Inc., in a news release. “For generations, the show has delighted floral aficionados with spectacular presentations of inspiring gardens and beautiful blooms. This year, Art in Bloom offered a one-of-a-kind opportunity to truly see art come to life.”

Upon entering the auditorium, spectators were welcomed into a horticultural art gallery by a replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David surrounded by numerous blue and white blossoms, including Suntory’s Princettia Max White (a white miniature poinsettia), grown specifically for the show.

Black Velvet phalaenopsis orchids, a recent introduction from Silver Vase Orchids in Homestead, FL, were a popular addition to the Macy’s Spring Flower Show and were also for sale in the show’s gift shop.“It is one of the purest whites, the brightest whites we’ve ever seen,” Bachman told The Produce News. “To see a poinsettia adjacent to tulips and hyacinths was pretty remarkable. We’ve never had a spring crop of poinsettias in our 130-year history. We proved that we could bring them on for a March date — that was an exciting trial — and we were able to introduce them into the show.”

The statue of David also became a canvas for a variety of floral patterns displayed on it by “projection mapping” (also known as video mapping), a special two-dimensional projection onto a three-dimensional surface, which was a new element at this year’s show and was used in a number of displays.

Eleven different floral installations paid tribute to distinct eras of art history, ranging from the renaissance to surrealism, and celebrated the connection between art and nature. Each garden took its inspiration from famous artworks and painting styles associated with particular genres, creating a flower dream world that included classical music and birdsongs emanating from all directions.

Though the flower show happened at four other Macy’s stores across the United States (New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco), the Minneapolis store was unique because of its large auditorium, noted Mike Gansmoe, executive producer of the event for Macy’s, in a news release. “The auditorium, which opened in 1963, enables us to create an environment that completely envelops people. When you walk into the room, you really feel like you’re somewhere else. You don’t feel like you’re in a department store.”

Planning the show took almost a year, with more than 40 artists, carpenters, visual specialists and many others putting in nearly 3,000 hours of labor to complete the project. Bachman’s employees moved over 180 cubic yards of soil into the eighth floor auditorium to create 4,000-square-feet of landscape. There were more than 100 varieties of plants and flowers and thousands of blooms, and halfway through the 14-day show several flowers, such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and amaryllis were replaced to keep it looking fresh.

“We garden every morning before the store opens, so our team arrives between 5-5:30 a.m. and they work up until 10 a.m. when the store opens, to freshen everything up,” Bachman told The Produce News.

“For us, you can never have too much art and never have too many blooms. We had a lot of new plants in the show this year,” said Bachman, noting variegated Shiloh Splash birch, several varieties of Calceolaria (pocketbook plants), Black Velvet orchids from Silver Vase in Homestead, FL, Scilla peruviana and a barbed tree from South America called Monkey Puzzle. Plants featured in the show named for artists included Picasso’s Paintbrush Croton, da Vinci’s Mona Lisa Lipstick Vine and Picasso’s Red Cordyline.

The first Macy’s Flower Show was held in San Francisco in 1946 and Bachman’s has been involved in the Minneapolis show for 50 years (originally with Dayton’s and then with Marshall Field’s at the same location before the company was sold to Macy’s), and Dale Bachman actually got married at the show in 1973.

More than 65,000 people visited Art in Bloom during its two-week run and for those who wanted to take a piece of the beauty home, some of the same varieties of flowers and plants used in the displays were available for sale in the Flower Show Gift Shop.

“It’s just an honor to be able to work on the project with Macy’s,” Bachman said.

“It really is a gift to the community. The show is very transitory — it is here today and gone tomorrow — and for the most part, the plants give their lives for the flower show. Every year I just hope as many people as possible can come and enjoy them.”