Philadelphia Flower Show June 5-13, 2021
If you haven't already bought your tickets for this year's show and made plans to travel to Philly, do so right away! This is one show you won't want to miss.
For starters, it's outdoors this year, which means you won't have to deal with forced plants inside the Convention Center and lighting that makes it extremely difficult to capture decent photos. Because of the pandemic, show organizers decided to move everything outside ... to FDR Park in South Philly. SO ... this 193rd Flower Show will cover 15 acres, nearly 50% more space than former inside shows. The theme of this year's show is "Habitat: Nature's Masterpiece," and PHS Chief of Show & Events Sam Lemheney told reporters that the horticultural displays will emphasize "the newest and hottest plants ... for the plant geek in all of us."
The show's landscape will be divided into three separate districts: The Plant District, featuring the best in plants and plant care; The Design District -- with exhibitions by acclaimed designers; and the Garden District, where attendees can attend lectures and educational sessions on gardening at home.
Among this year's design exhibitors is Balmori-Associates of NYC, a studio that practices a philosophy that invites community interaction with landscapes. Their design will highlight "the edge effect," a concept that brings together greater biodiversity at the boundary between two or more different habitats.
Treeline Designz, with offices on the West Coast, anchors its exhibit with a bamboo forest that rises through natural vegetation surrounding reflection ponds. The outer landscape leads visitors into an inner sanctum, a peace garden in a relaxed setting that fosters meditation and socializing and provides space for insects and birds.
Other noted designers in this year's show include floral designer Jeff Leatham, landscape designers Patrick Cullina and Wambui Ippolito of Jane Gil Gardens, Donald Pell and the Nomad Studio.
Lemheney noted that the PHS is thrilled this year "to celebrate the outdoors and offer joy and beauty after a year that has been marked by so many challenges." The show, he said, "is a wonderful example of the enduring and combined power of green space, plants, and gardeners to create impact and inspiration."
FDR Park, a 348 acre site, was carved out of tidal marshes and designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1914, with curving roads and paths, a series of tidal lakes, and 126 acres of woodlands. The park hosted the nation's Sesquicentennial Exhibition in 1926, and its iconic Boathouse opened for that event. The park is also the site of American Swedish Historical Museum, also built for the Sesquicentennial. The park is on Philadelphia's Register of Historic Places.
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