in the world.

The Garden Club of Bermuda was asked to take part in the show which attracts almost 250,000 viewers a year.

The show is organised by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and will be held at the Philadelphia Civic centre.

The theme for this years show is "Islands in the Sun'' which along with Bermuda will feature Barbados and Puerto Rico.

Bermuda's contribution will be a life-size Bermuda cottage with a small pink sand beach including trees, plants and flowers that depict the islands vegetation.

Chairman of the Bermuda exhibit and Garden Club member Mrs. Janet Owner also requested that the exhibit have a Desmond Fountain statue.

"Our exhibit will be very much Bermudian,'' Mrs. Owner said. "The Department of Tourism has prepared a brochure that explains the exhibit to the viewer.'' She added: "There will be 30 people from Bermuda going to the show consisting of Garden Club members and their spouses, who will assist with the exhibit.

"We thought it would be nice to have Bermudians standing with the exhibit to answer any questions viewers may have.'' Mrs. Owner also said that the men who were helping out would be donned in Bermuda shorts.

Mr. Steven West designed the authentic pink Bermuda cottage and its trimmings such as the limestone slated roof, green blinds and the buttery. Mrs. Anne Smith was the landscape architect.

The Garden Club is especially pleased because the Bermuda exhibit has the main spot on the show floor which is the area that visitors first see when entering the show hall.

The show's designer Mr. Edward Linderman said the idea for the show came to him while he was attending another show. "Our show normally is in the first and second week of March and the weather in Philadelphia is not exactly pleasant,'' Mr. Linderman said.

"I thought it would be fun to do a tropical theme using Garden Clubs from different islands.'' He added that along with the exhibits from Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Barbados there were also hundreds of other entries from individuals and other garden clubs. A regular life-size nursery and small gardens will also be set up displaying plants and flowers.

"The other entries were given a title of "Out of the Noon Day Sun'' which they have to use in their creations,'' Mr. Linderman said. "They have to portray sheltering from the sun. For the Bermuda exhibit carpenters have built a life size cottage. We are also collecting accessories, tropical foliage and renting Hibiscus's and palms which are 15 to 18-feet high.

"We want the exhibit to be as authentic as possible. We don't want it look fake, but realistic.

"In our other shows the ocean and rivers are made by using black rubber pools which portray dark water because that's how are waters look. But for the islands we are using a blue pool to create the clear blue water effect.''