What’s New at the 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show This March

2024 Highlights

The 2024 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, celebrating its 195th year, is back at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for a second straight year with all your returning favorite flowering displays and activities, along with a bevy of new exhibits and experiences to enjoy.

PHS Entrance Garden
  — Rendering courtesy Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Interact with gardens and flowers up close as you stroll through the winding promenade among a plethora of creators and their immersive large-scale 360-degree floral-scapes between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet big. This year’s show features nearly four-dozen major exhibitors.

Some of the key highlights of the 2024 show include:

• The PHS Entrance Garden: The show’s largest-ever water display, a glass-like centerpiece featuring floral sculptures showcasing water as an innovative artistic medium, presenting colossal and vibrant floral sculptures evoking a serene tropical sunset.
• Celebrating the Region’s Neighborhoods: An innovative set of exhibits inspired by the special characteristics of neighborhoods throughout Greater Philadelphia, including Spring Garden, Roxborough, Pennsport, the Italian Market, Northeast Philly and Doylestown.
• Potting Parties: Learn tricks of the trade during energetic container gardening workshops hosted by designer Tu Bloom, the official botanical artist for the Grammy Awards — and take home your very own floral creation (additional purchase required).

Potting Parties
  — Rendering courtesy Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

What’s New

In addition to the new theme, there are a number of new items, tours and activities at the 2024 show, including:

• Behind the Blooms Tour: A new tour on how the exhibits come to life, led by acclaimed horticulturists and event professionals, which goes deep behind the scenes of both horticulture displays and event production. (8 a.m. to 10 a.m., additional purchase required.)
• Know to Grow Educational Sessions: A reimagined speaker series (held up to four times each day) on garden design topics like vegetable, container, shade and rock gardening as well as houseplanting, for both the professional and plant-curious.
• Bloom Bar Cart: For the first time, fresh pre-assembled floral crowns will be available for purchase from a pop-up satellite cart roaming the show floor (in addition to the regular central Bloom Bar shop).
• PHS Draw to Action Coloring Book: A special new 20-page kids’ activity book for purchase, designed by 20 local artists, each inspired by PHS’s core mission. (Available at Kids Cocoon and the PHS Shop.)

Bloom Bar
  — Photo courtesy Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Tours & Experiences

A leisurely stroll through the elaborate Flower Show is always a memorable time. But visitors looking for more hands-on activities can put the (ahem) petal to the metal with a number of special tours and interactive experiences:

• Early Morning Tours: Get an up-close behind-the-scenes look at show displays, gardens and competitions two hours before other guests arrive. And don’t miss special Guided Photography Tours led by experienced photographers for shutterbugs and Instagrammers. (8 a.m. to 10 a.m., additional purchase required.)
• Butterflies Live!: Interact with hundreds of native butterfly species in a serene habitat surrounded by flowering plants, and learn how to attract fluttery friends to your home garden. (Additional purchase required.)
• Artisan Row: Get crafty working side-by-side with horticultural artisans to create elevated flower- and gardening-inspired crafts. (Additional purchase required.)
• Fido Friday: Explore the show with your (leashed) four-legged friends during special dog days on the show floor. (Friday, March 8, 2024, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.)
• Flowers After Hours: Let loose at this 21-plus dance party — featuring all-local, all-female DJs — where attendees are tasked to dress in white and nude adorned with glimmering fabric and sparkling accessories like sequined jackets and glittering gowns. (Saturday, March 9, 2024, 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., additional purchase required.)
• Kids Cocoon: A kid-centric play space where the youngest show guests can plant a seedling, read a story and enjoy a variety of horticultural-based activities. (Daily except March 10.)
• Family Frolic: A special day dedicated to those with little ones packed with activities and kid-friendly programming like face painting, giveaways, mascot visits and more. (Sunday, March 3, 2024.)

And don’t miss the show’s enticing shopping experiences, including the sprawling Marketplace with over 100 vendors offering live plants, hand-crafted items, tools and accessories, the Makers Market featuring local artists’ handmade wares and artisanal products (nearly double the size of previous years), and the PHS Shop for show merch and memorabilia.

Flowers After Hours
  — Photo courtesy Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Source: visitphilly.com