Each spring, Macy’s hosts a flower show inside its department store downtown Chicago, signaling the start of a new season of renewal. And for the second straight year, central Illinois-based Green View Companies was chosen to be the show’s floral partner, which means it will do “all of the designing, installation and maintenance for the duration of the show,” explained Carolina Erke, Green View’s marketing director.

The 2010 show, themed Spring is in the Air, will bloom at Macy’s on State Street from March 28th to April 11th. Green View’s unique design includes thousands of flowers, trees, shrubs and plants that will adorn the store while oversized butterflies and dragonflies buzz about and nearly 200 kites soar above visitors. Twenty-four of this year’s signature tree, the Purple Prince Crabapple, will line the main aisle, to be donated to the City of Chicago after the show. Other highlights include a 16-foot-tall birdcage located in the Walnut Room; “Sky Gardens,” a collection of planted displays in various elevated locations throughout the first floor; and a mobile made of 5,000 balsa wood airplanes that hangs beneath the Tiffany ceiling.

According to Erke, the project required months of preparation in terms of both designing and planning with Macy’s. Green View staff spent the three days prior to the show’s opening bringing the design to life, working only when the store was closed at night and in the early morning.

Free and open to the public, the Macy’s Flower Show will also feature guided tours by the University of Illinois Extension’s master gardeners. It’s estimated that the show attracts more than half a million people each year. iBi