Philadelphia Flower Show moves back indoors with ‘The Garden Electric’
PHILADELPHIA — After two years outdoors, the Philadelphia Flower Show is back indoors, with a new look, new theme and new vendors for a show unlike any before.
“This year, we're working hard to create a cohesive and fully immersive experience for our Flower Show attendees,” said Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Creative Director Seth Pearsoll. “Design choices are intentionally being made to mimic the feel of being outdoors in nature by creating larger displays that surround guests, and our lineup of exhibitors is incredible.”
The 2023 Philadelphia Flower Show, “The Garden Electric,” will run from Saturday until March 12, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St., Philadelphia. Tickets are on sale at tickets.phsonline. org, and the show will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on March 4, 10 and 11; from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 5-9, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 12.
Five new design concepts will be featured in the major exhibitions, showcasing large-scale gardens over 900 square feet. The theme, “The Garden Electric,” will be visible to visitors as soon as they arrive.
“The Entrance Garden design this year will create a sense of mystery and intrigue with its rounded, transparent, mesh scrim that offers a fragrant hint of the opulent and lush floral world awaiting within.
The silhouetted plants and flowers on the exterior of the space will invite curious guests inward, through a grey hued entrance,” said the PHS in a statement
announcing the show's theme.
“Once inside, guests will experience a jolt of floral magic that celebrates that unique feeling of awe, excitement, and celebration that one experiences when encountering majestic beauty. By using a mesh scrim to conceal and encapsulate the space, guests are enveloped in a 360-degree world of unique floral pairings, textures, light, fragrance and vibrant colors; creating an immersive, sensory experience that captures the feeling of ‘The Garden Electric.'”
For the first time, designers have been invited to create gardens from 2,200 to 2,900 square feet, larger than any ever seen at a Flower Show before and
meant to evoke the feeling of the 2021 and '22 shows held outdoors.
In its return indoors, and for the first time, the Flower Show will adopt the concept of a winding promenade, according to PHS; the guided path is a departure from how previous shows have been laid out, creating a lush, self-guided experience for guests to view and engage with stunning gardens and flowers up close.
Exhibitors will place special emphasis on representation of garden and landscape designers of varied backgrounds, experiences and specialties, offering them a platform to make their unique artistic voices heard.
The 2023 show will
also feature design categories for highly skilled, non-professionals, including several competitive categories such as windowsill decoration, doorway decoration, miniature floral design, floral arrangements, pressed plants, botanical jewelry and more.
The centerpiece of the show will be the PHS Hamilton Horticourt, returning this year in a new, central location within the show's layout, allowing attendees to easily peruse the myriad award-winning plants and flowers entered into PHS's competitive classes.
This year's Horticourt will house new competitive class entrants for categories such as forced cut branches, citrus and several
new classes in arrangements, including a new invitational class that will invite top floral designers to compete, according to PHS.
Among the designers that will be highlighted at the show:
Black Girl Florists Network
This network was created to support and celebrate black women in floristry, and the group offers workshops, group training sessions and more. They'll be bringing “The Garden Electric” to life with an exhibit that draws inspiration from their own unity as black florists, illustrating that together, they contribute to the growth and sustainability of their presence in the floral industry.
The exhibit will feature an array of vibrantly colored florals reflective of the theme, lighting elements and large-scale barrels brimming with stunning flowers pouring into a 10-foot tree.
Ill Exotics
ll Exotics, a boutique shop based in Philadelphia and specializing in uncommon plants from aroids to orchids and captive-bred fauna, will create “Studio Exotica” a Studio-54-inspired disco completely taken over by tropical
foliage and flowers, complete with a floral DJ, bartender and dancers.
The exhibit will capture the electric feeling we get when enveloped by beautiful flowers and gardens, as well as the electric connection we have to music.
Newfields led by Jonathan Wright
Renowned designer Jonathan Wright, director of The Garden and Fairbanks Park at Newfields, will be exhibiting this year for the first time. Known as a gardening tastemaker in the field of public gardens for his creative design sensibility and elegant, yet contemporary approach, guests can anticipate a breathtaking 360-degree, mixed-media installation featuring projections, music and florals reminiscent of immersive art shows.
Harijanto Setiawan
Harijanto Setiawan, a recipient of the Designer of the Year Award in
2013 by the president of Singapore, is an architect-turned-florist and founder of Boenga floral studio. He has worked with high-end clients such as Chanel, Dior, Hermes, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Swarovski, Manolo Blahnik, and Audi, uniting floral design, architecture and high fashion.
Treeline Designz
Treeline Designz, led by Iftikhar Ahmed, will bring to life a concept that sheds light on Ukrainian children who have been uprooted from their homes and exposed to war.
Ahmed believes that garden and landscape design can contribute to making the world a more livable, equitable, resilient and just place. His exhibit will use locally grown trees and plants to envision a magical, twinkling fairy
house, home to the Peace Fairy, who watches over and protects all children.
Apiary Studio
Apiary Studio, a landscape architecture, design/ build and experimental horticulture firm, will return to the Flower Show for the second time with an exhibit that explores themes of duality and contrast.
Known for their use of unconventional building materials and adaptive reuse of urban decay, Apiary Studio’s exhibit will showcase how gardens can be transformed at different times of the day by focusing on night gardens and using plants that are activated at night with color and scent.
Susan Cohan Gardens
Renowned garden and landscape designer Susan Cohan, named Designer of the Year in 2021 by The Association of Professional Landscape Designers, will also return to the Flower Show in 2023.
Her firm’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that thoughtful and responsibly designed landscapes enhance our lives. Cohan will celebrate the joy and exuberance we feel at the start of spring. Through utilizing a variety of spring ephemerals, a suspended interactive swing, and spiral motifs, Cohan will invoke the blissfulness of a spring day.
The PHS Philadelphia
Flower Show is the nation’s largest and the world’s longest-running horticultural event and features displays by some of the world’s premier floral and landscape designers. Started in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the show introduces diverse and sustainable plant varieties and garden and design concepts. In addition to acres of garden displays, the Flower Show hosts world-renowned competitions in horticulture and artistic floral arranging, gardening presentations and demonstrations, and special events.
PHS will continue to work closely with health officials leading up to the show regarding health and safety protocols, with updated guidance available online. Street parking and paid lots are available in the area, and SEPTA lines run directly to the convention center; directions and tips on how to get there are available on the show’s website.
Food options at the show itself are operated by the convention center, and more can be found at Reading Terminal Market, just across the street, with more options a few blocks away in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood.