Philadelphia Flower Show 2024: City welcomes hundreds of thousands to nation's largest horticulture event
CENTER CITY - It’s the 195th year of the Philadelphia Flower Show and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to see the exhibits.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s annual flower show features exhibits by designers and florists that are bursting with color. Massive, beautiful blooms line the entire space, with lots of new features from last year.
Vice President and Creative Director of the Flower Show, Seth Pearsoll, said, "The entrance garden is a big, massive display with over 14,000 individual tulips, over 70,000 stems of flowers."
Though the winter season has been a particularly rainy one, it was the temperature that had designers and florists adjusting their plans.
"It’s a mixture of art and science," Pearsoll continued. "You start in the fall. You want to know what you’re ordering and then you want to know what day the Flower Show is, because you literally time it to open right at that time."
Exhibits center around the theme "United By Flowers," like one of a hair salon, created by a team of Black female florists.
"For us, as Black women, our hair has always been a touch point," Jessica LeBron said. "It feels beautiful. I’ve had elders come to me and tell me how just seeing the Jet magazine really brought them back to a place where they were with their mom, going to the salon as a kid."
There’s also a speaker series, educating show attendants on topics like the future of gardening and community gardens.
"This year’s theme is United By Flowers and our presentation was on Unity in the Community through Plants," workshop presenter Cherron Perry-Thomas said. "We look at nature as the solution to peace and harmony and communities coming together."
The Philadelphia Flower show is open every day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. until March 10.