Joe Palimeno, president and landscape designer, and his company Ledden Palimeno won Best in Show for its exhibit at the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show.

The exhibit was built for EP Henry Corp. from Woodbury, N.J. It was the 10th year Ledden Palimeno designed and built the hardscape manufacturer’s exhibit.

Palimeno described the exhibit as:

“Dinner and a movie is the title and it celebrates outdoor living at its finest. Functional usable outdoor spaces never seem to go out of style and neither do water features. Places to gather that offer privacy with built in sitting areas and a fireplace extend the use well into the evening and into the fall and winter season. Pergola-covered patios are popular as well, offering the feel of an outdoor room and provides comfort from the sun.

“The Flower Show puts us on a stage in front of 250,000 plus visitors for nine days to showcase our talents and shows all the possibilities of what you can have or do in your own yard. We added an additional surprise, an outdoor theater complete with surround sound, and all the equipment is outdoor rated and was provided by Hifi House in Jenkintown, Pa. This is a trend we are going to see happen and will be just another way to extend the indoors out.”

Ledden Palimeno also built two exhibits for Subaru of America, the premier sponsor of the Philadelphia International Flower Show. While the Philadelphia show was being installed, the landscaping company had a crew building another exhibit for Subaru of America at the North West Flower and Garden Show in Seattle.

The Philadelphia exhibit featured a small park setting in the concourse complete with wire topiary people and animals all hand made by Larry Bloomfield of Ledden Palimeno. The main exhibit “day in the park” was much larger and was of a walled park entrance complete with ticket booth and gorgeous Delphiniums and Malvis Syvestris. The color palette was subtle with changes of lavenders, purples and whites with shades of greens that enticed the audience to stop in and spend time checking out the car.

“Four exhibits in three weeks and 10,000 miles of flying in between to manage both events is what it took to pull off over 4,500 square feet of exhibit space,” Palimeno said. “Seattle featured a large story book that the car actually became a part of as it sat surrounded by native plantings in a forest setting. We built the entire set in our shop and crated and shipped it to Seattle. That was a very tense time as I waited for confirmation of its arrival, but it all went according to plan and we had a very successful show. This marks our fifth year working with Subaru.”

With the responses the company received from the show, Palimeno said all signs are pointing to a good season ahead.