PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Spring technically is still weeks away, but the season is in full bloom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The Philadelphia Flower Show returns starting March 2.

This year’s theme, “United by Flowers,” was chosen to highlight the way flowers and gardens bring communities together.

One show-stopping exhibit is always the Entrance Garden. This year’s display features 75,000 stems of flowers, 14,000 tulip bulbs and the largest water feature the show has ever produced with 8,500 gallons of water. 

There are also more than 70 large-scale installations throughout the convention center floor.

Philadelphia Flower Show times, hours

The 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show runs from Saturday, March 2, 2024 through Sunday, March 10, 2024. The show is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. except for March 10, when the flower show ends at 6 p.m.

This is located at the Pennsylvania Convention Center at 11th and Arch Streets in Center City.

What’s on display, what is there to do at the Philadelphia Flower Show?

Down the hall from the entrance garden in Bloom City, visitors can shop locally-made goods and try their hand at a number of projects, including making a succulent terrarium, flower crown or dried flower arrangement. There’s also a live butterfly exhibit and space for kids to stretch their legs.

The Flower Show will also feature a speaker series where experts touch on a range of topics for every level of gardener. The series is free and available four times a day. 

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society President Matt Rader said some of the exhibits take months to plan.  

The Philadelphia Flower Show is the largest and longest-running horticultural event and fundraiser in the nation, and is back indoors after a few unprecedented years outside at FDR Park in South Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Flower Show theme is “United by Flowers”

The flower show’s 2024 theme is “United by Flowers.”

“United by Flowers is a celebration of all the ways that gardening and flowers influence our life – in those big moments and the small moments,” said Sin Gogolak, director of public relations and communications for PHS. “From the sharing of a bouquet over dinner, to your wedding florals, every particular memorable moment in your life involves flowers or gardening in some way.”

“This is a celebration of that community and that love, and the memories we create along the way,” Gogolak said.

In line with the “United by Flowers” theme, we saw this car placed like it’s driving toward a floral map of the continental United States.

Philadelphia Flower Show tickets: how to buy and where your money goes

Proceeds fund the work of PHS all year, including its pop-up gardens, tree plantings and other programs.

You can buy tickets to the Philadelphia Flower Show on the website, PHSOnline.org.

How to get to the Philadelphia Flower Show on SEPTA

SEPTA is offering additional regional rail service for the Philadelphia Flower Show. All regional rail service stops at Jefferson Station, which connects to the the lower level of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Starting Saturday, March 2 SEPTA will offer extra service for the following routes:

• From Saturday, March 2 to Sunday, March 3: Extra trains will operate on the Chestnut Hill East, Fox Chase, Lansdale/Doylestown, Manayunk/Norristown, Media/Wawa, Paoli/Thorndale and Warminster lines. 
• From Monday, March 4 to Friday, March 8: additional trains will be available on the Lansdale/Doylestown and Paoli/Thorndale lines. 

The Market-Frankford Line, Broad Street Line and trolleys will also offer frequent service with drop off at 13th Street Station, which is a block away from the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 

The following bus routes will also stop near the Convention Center: 4, 16, 17, 23, 27, 33, 38, 44, 45, 48, 61, 78, 124 and 125.

Jan Carabeo