The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has once again, as it has for over 40 years, welcomed spring to Boston with its annual Art in Bloom exhibit. Over 50 garden clubs took on the challenge of creating art-inspired arrangements for the always-popular event, which runs through Monday, April 29. The exhibit planning takes all year, but the excitement really heats up at a meeting (attendance absolutely mandatory) in an MFA lecture hall on a cold day in March. At that time garden club members, some confident veterans, others nervous newbies, are directed to open the on-velope, please, to discover which work of art they have been assigned to interpret.

Flash forward to April. Damn, that went fast, but the garden clubs are ready. The art has been interpreted, and the arrangements are ready to roll. Forty-five minutes — and not one second more — before the Huntington Avenue doors open to all comers, the arrangers must lay down their clippers and cease all fluffing. It’s show time.

I was among the unwashed masses who stormed the building mere minutes after the groups had put the finishing touches on their floral interpretations. There was nothing more the garden club members could do except go to the swanky breakfast the MFA put on for them and raise a glass of orange juice to each other. Cheers, garden clubs, and congratulations. Here are some pics of the event: