Flower Shows Wilt Under Recession

The economic downturn and changing demographics are killing off flower shows across America, the New York Times reports. Sponsorship money is drooping and greenhouses are becoming costlier to heat. One of the most famous, the New England Flower Show, canceled this year’s event after 137 years of bringing an extravagant burst of color to winter-bashed Bostonians.

Organizers say the shows are as expensive to put on as a Broadway play and attendances are sinking as a new generation prefers to get its gardening tips online. "We’ve had increasing costs and decreasing revenues," said an official from Bangor, Me.'s now-defunct flower show. "We basically just fell on the sword and said, ‘Hey, this is more than we can handle without gardening ourselves into the poorhouse." (More flowers stories.)