Shopping is in Season at the Flower Show

Products for the home and garden celebrate Dutch art, culture

PHILADELPHIA >> Philadelphia Flower Show visitors come for the gorgeous floral displays and the taste of spring it offers. But along the way, they may be tempted to do a little shopping, and the Flower Show folks are prepared with items large and small to fit any budget.

The 2017 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show with the theme Holland: Flowering the World will have a “wonderful shop,” said Joanna Kramer Kowitt, a consultant who has been working for months to design it. “We’ve made a lot of changes from last year that we’re really excited about.”

This year, visitors will be able to buy memorabilia from and about Holland, including a graphic T-shirt, an official Flower Show silk scarf, garden décor and “a robust assortment” of home and garden products.

This year’s scarf is especially beautiful, Kowitt said. It was designed with a Dutch masters painting theme in either navy blue or light blue, with the Flower Show logo on the borders.

“The PHS Shop is curated by us,” Kowitt said. “It has items that represent the show and also can accent your garden.” There are items for the casual visitor and also for the “true flower lover and true horticulturist.”

For the garden, there are solar tulip plant stakes or dragonfly and hummingbird stakes.

“Solar lighting is a category we started last year and it did so well we have a whole assortment of items this year,” she said. There are also “beautiful garden flags,” vintage jewelry, books and a Flower Show magnet.

Gardeners can select from a “hand curated assortment of tulips,” she said. There are many items that have “something to with Holland so you really get a piece of the Flower Show to take home with you. You are taking home a memory,” she said.

“Our customers love fashion accessories,” she said. “We worked hard with our vendors. So there are scarves for every taste from a $20 polyester blend or rayon that retail upwards of $50, and designs with florals, paisleys and butterflies.” She is very excited about silk scarves with butterflies and also with designs inspired by van Gogh.

And for the youngsters, the Teddy van der Bear is “adorable.” There is also a van Gogh coloring book, as well as child-size gardening tools and children’s books and sticker books. And the Flower Show Tshirt is available for children and adults. Also tasty Dutch food, like stroopwafels, will be served, along with the Flower Show’s own flavor of tea, she said. Tea towels with tulips and windmills, and tea accoutrements like steepers and tea bag holders in the shape of a leaf will be offered. Cheeses and novelty cheese cutting boards and display boards and floral wine stoppers will be available, she said. “We’ve thought of everything,” Kowitt said. All the merchandize is “related to horticulture with a tie into Holland. We thought very hard about all these products,” she said. The Flower Show will also have books for adults with author book signings, she said. Other popular items include a pin magnet and an enamel keychain. There are also windmill tiles and specially designed Flower Show seed packets. “The biggest item brand new for this year is our flower show tote bag,” Kowitt said. “It is a reusable shopping tote with the Philadelphia skyline and a floral burst pattern.” That tote, made from recycled bottles, is $5 and has a mesh pocket for a flower bouquet. Along with the main shop and three satellite shops, some 180 vendors will also have booths in the Marketplace, she said.

“We make sure no items are duplicated,” Kowitt said. “We worked with hundreds of vendors to get the best and most unique merchandise we could.”

They have also changed the layout of the store to make a better traffic flow for customers and installed more registers for faster checkout.

“We really focused on enhancing the customer experience in every way we could,” she said.

The PHS Meadowbrook Farm Shop will showcase a selection of plants, including cacti, begonias, ferns, scented geraniums, tropical plants, herbs, perennials, terrariums and air plants. PHS Gold Medal plants, selected for hardiness in Zones 5 through 7, will also be available.

Jenny Rose Carey, PHS Meadowbrook Farm director, said they will also bring tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, irises, hyacinths and bulb combination baskets.

“All the pretty things for spring,” Carey said. “And spring-planted, summer-blooming bulbs, such as dahlias, cannas, lilies, begonia, calla lilies, caladium and specialty ones like gloriosa lilies, as well.” While the summer bulbs will not give “instant gratification as ones poking their noses up, they really add a lot of color to the summer garden.” Some bulbs can be planted in the shade, which is a bonus. And staff members and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions, she said.

“One of the best things about the Flower Show is there will be someone somewhere to answer questions,” she said.

A horticultural information booth will be in the center of the hall. And Carey will give a lecture on bulbs, included in the ticket price, at 2 p.m. March 14. Other lectures and demonstrations will be held throughout the show.

New this year, the Convention Center’s Grand Hall will be transformed into the World Market, a fun, lively space with a Dutch Shopping Village featuring Kremp Florist, Chez Kiskis, Oasis Floral Products, and Tresse Noire Hair Braiding. Guests can shop for imported and domestic bottles – and enjoy free tastings – at the Fine Wine & Spirits store in the World Market, or bend an elbow in the relaxing PHS Pop Up Beer Garden.

For more information on the Philadelphia Flower Show, call 215-988-8800, visit TheFlowerShow.com, search for “The Flower Show” on Facebook or follow @PhilaFlowerShow on Twitter.

“We really focused on enhancing the customer experience in every way we could.” —Joanna Kramer Kowitt