This year the stunning floral displays are on view outside in a big tent on Broadway and 34th Street. So, instead of having to push through crowds inside Macy's, visitors can stroll leisurely through a 5,000-square-foot tent, which houses an incredible Brazilian garden full of lush plants and colorful blooms that evoke the country's tropical rainforest and urban gardens.

Macy's Flower Show - Brasil: Gardens in Paradise features six separate gardens woven together on a winding path painted to look like cobblestones or the rainforest floor. Each garden depicts a different type of Brazilian horticulture, from old-world gardens with towering palm trees to cool urban rooftop gardens.

I was particularly impressed by the Garden of Bahia, which was inspired by the colonial neighborhood of the same name. Its centerpiece is an eight-foot tall toucan sculpture covered with dried native button flowers and black magnolia standing in a nest of tropical flowers and greenery. Another highlight is the Amazon Garden which dominates much of the landscape in the show. You enter by walking over a wooden bridge and find a beautiful waterfall, and chocolate, coffee, papaya and citrus plants, all indigenous to Brazil's rainforest.

Macy’s famous windows also get in on the Flower Show action. On the Seventh Avenue windows, visitors can see the Bouquet of the Day display, changed every few days. 

Inside Macy's, there will be Flower Show-themed activities, like performances and gardening and cooking workshops, including a handful specifically aimed at families. All of these events take place in the kids' department on the seventh floor and are totally FREE.

On Sunday, March 25, catch the well known troupe DanceBrazil at 11am and 1pm. At noon, folk icon Judy Collins will read from her new children's book When You Wish Upon a Star. At 2pm, folks from Colonial Williamsburg will present a gardening demo.

On Saturday, March 31 at 1pm, visitors can see excerpts from two popular Off Broadway shows: kooky a cappella musical Voca People and the self-explanatory Gazillion Bubble Show.

On Saturday, April 7 at noon, hear Helen L. Wilbus read from her award-winning book Lily’s Victory Garden.

If you've been to Macy's Flower Show before, you may be wondering about the annual Petacular animal competition. Unfortunately, it's not happening this year. We hope Macy's brings it back in 2013!

Macy's Flower Show - Brasil: Gardens In Paradise is on view through Saturday, April 7 outside Macy’s Herald Square at Broadway and 34th Street. Open Monday-Saturday 10am-9:30pm and Sunday 10am-8:30pm.