Feeling United by Flowers at the 195th PHS Philadelphia Flower Show

Sunshine bathes the 195th PHS Philadelphia Flower Show’s welcome banner at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

We HAVE to write about flowers. We have to experience flowers. We have to understand that their flourishing is dependent on an entire ecosystem of grass and dirt and water and sunlight and touch and love. Because when we understand that about the flowers, we will understand that about one another as well. — Jenna Winship

Story, photos by Sharon Kozden

While I intellectually get that every season has its distinct glory, beauty and allure, truth be told, the winter of my discontent is, well, winter. When it’s dark outside as I leave for work and dark again on exiting the office, and when cold temperatures diminish any work-out desire, I tend to hibernate and isolate. Great for book-reading. Not so much for my social life.

Winter is that time of year when spring harbingers can’t arrive soon enough. And when they do, I’m there for each one–seed-catalogs in the mail, Girl Scout Cookie sales, the appearance of Grapefruit League Baseball schedules, even Hollywood’s Academy Award nominee announcements. These individual and collective precursors usher closer the desired vernal season. But do I really want to hurry time? No way. Wait: yes! Ah, the vacillating struggle endures.

My favorite presager is an incoming email from Pennsylvania Horticultural Society‘s Public Relations Coordinator Grace Savage. Said email announces Media and Press Preview Day for the Philly Flower Show, an event that I’ve been attending some five years now. Like chirpy birdsong, it cheers me enormously and thaws winter’s funk.

For the 195th PHS Philadelphia Flower Show with its “United by Flowers” theme, I met my friend (and favorite plus-one) Anne Foote at Septa‘s Wynnewood Station, where we railed into Philadelphia–destination Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Back in the day, which now has come to mean the time before my mom died in late January 2023, I lived to create the “total experience” no matter what I did. A flower show would’ve had me all abloom hair, makeup and wardrobe-wise. Now, however, good enough is just fine by me. Peace at all costs is paramount. The wisdom of grief, I call it. And it’s just how I roll now, whether social-gigging or in life, generally speaking.

Outfit-wise, a floral-patterned slip-on dress fit the bill. Easy-peasy. The event plan was to saunter ’round the show for an hour or so. Sure, there’s a lot to take in, and one can easily make a day of it; however, my newly minted breezy and simple as ABC outlook means I choose what comfortably works and leave it at that. Nothing forced. Zero pressure to view every. single. thing. No agenda for picture-taking. Whatever catches my eye warrants a shot. The absence of an obligatory game plan felt wonderfully liberating, and while I no doubt missed a lot, I participated with altogether more engagement, presence and intentionality.

Two things for 2024 were immediately evident on entry: cooler temps and an increased roominess. Since throngs diminish my pleasure, I was elated. Call that a hit! Please to repeat. I also loved the Bloom Bars’ multiple outposts as well as their ready-made-for-purchase floral crowns.

The Entrance Garden absolutely blew away this veteran show attendee. Magical. Astonishing. Other-worldly. Dreamy. Intoxicating. A descriptor list is limitless. You know how corporations often fail on performance reviews to rank employees beyond a tepid “meets expectations” to the seemingly unattainable “exceeds expectations” category? I’ll just say the 2024 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show not only exceeded my hopes; it transcended in every category.

While the show’s entry portal is often something special, I didn’t anticipate being stopped in my tracks with mouth agape and eyeballs bugged out. Somebody or, rather, a whole lot of somebodies had created a tour de force, a coup de maitre (“master stroke” in French). I felt transported to another realm by “Edges and Reflections.” Poufy floral clouds suspended from on high made for an efflorescent sky. Below, a botanical wonderland unfolded with the show’s largest-ever water display as focal point, surrounded by magnificent floral arrangements and expanses of vibrant flower beds. Blooming trees vertically connected sky and ground for a unifying scene and an overall brilliant composition.

Determined to adhere to a pre-determined timeline to avoid overstimulation, I kept it moving. This year, my itinerary included the Entrance Garden, a bit of a linger at the larger exhibits that intrigued me, a brief check-in at my favorite vendor (Hudson Valley Seed Company) and a pit stop at some of the smaller exhibits.

Especially noted for the 2024 show was the theme’s expression of floral unity being extraordinarily diverse in its interpretation. The notion of flowers’ power to unite was expressed with such sweeping, yet vastly unique creative expression. Like some horticultural heaven where was all just get along. 

Continue this writer’s floriferous journey and learn more details about the show by enjoying the captioned photographic essay below! Congrats, PHS on a wickedly successful 2024 show. “United by Flowers” ensured that I’m excited, Maker-willing and by the graciousness of my hosts, to return in 2025.

Check out the PHS goings on at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (phsonline.org)

From Left, PHS Public Relations Coordinator Grace Savage and writer Sharon Kozden smile pretty at Media Check-in.

You are here: show map on display at entrance near an information booth is both well-designed and user-friendly.

This colorful and eye-catching cart is strategically placed at the entrance area for maximum exposure.

The Entrance Garden is described as exploring an “Edges and Reflections” theme and is identified as an “aquatic floral spectacle.” It’s one breathtaking showstopper and boasts the largest body of water ever created in the reflecting pool.

Pink and yellow blooms come full circle.

The “sky” blooms via suspension with hanging arrangements from “Connected: A Floral Legacy” by Schaffer Designs.

Meet the Team …

As explained by the creators …

Podium perfection at the Entrance Garden, where the sky falls florally and spectacularly courtesy of Schaffer Designs.

Cobalt blue panels intersect with macrame strands to beautifully accent a display that features as its focal point a gorgeous floral gathering dense with textures, color and wonderful composition by Robertson’s Florals & Events.

Robertson’s Flowers & Events won me over with its geometric exhibit. It also won the Special Achievement Award from the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania for CREATIVITY over 1,000 sq ft.

From the Robertson’s Flowers & Events geometric display …

Robertson’s Flowers & Events “Harmony in Geometry” exhibit featured this shapely beauty.

Robertson’s Flowers & Events returned for their 45th year and dazzled both again and anew with this dinner-scape dynamo featuring geometric-shapes and animated colors.

This display really captured my heart in an emotionally provocative way. United by Flowers, indeed.

Well done, Emy Custom Flowers! Beautifully expressed.

Lovely ladies honor my request for a pose.

Irwin Landscaping and Prairie Wind caught my attention with this inviting and tranquil display that beckons one to sit contemplatively while breathing diaphragmatically.

Talk about creative interpretation on a theme! Here’s Black Girl Florists making their second appearance at the Philly Flower Show and staging a beauty salon gone floral to emphasize community unification. Highly original!

“The Need for Ceremony” seen here in this enchanting tablescape exhibit by Tissarose Floral garnered the 2024 PHS Bronze Award.

From Left, Ramillionaire Carr is one flowery mod man, who clearly out-blooms writer Sharon Kozden.

This Kool Kat rocking some serious flower power is one in a Ramillionaire.

ARRANGE Floral & Event Design took home the coveted Best in Show–Floral cup for its mazelike and didactically detailed exploration of a bloom like none other, the Orchid.

Meet Contessa … an alluring Italian mannequin created by the American Institute of Floral Designers.

Jennifer Designs speaks my road trip lingo with her “America in Bloom” exhibit.

Nice vanity plate on the fire-engine red roadster! But the real gem is the pup as cargo.

Sharon Kozden enjoys a photo op as did so very many others in this sweet spot.

Oh, to dine in this enchanting garden spot or mayhap lunch with tea and scones followed by a game of chess?

From the “Did You Know?” files … The City of Kungfu-Zhengzhou is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. It is known as the “Zen Buddhism Ancestral Court, Kungfu Holy Land.”

I am completely enamored of these big-eyed, big-headed baldies, hence the massive close-up shots.

Such agile fellows, these little Kungfu Cowboys.

While I don’t know the name of this pose, I aim to incorporate it into my yoga routine.

Writer Sharon Kozden poses amid massive roses, blooming vines and a white iron swing for two–I’m here! Where are you?

While not an imbiber of the hard stuff, the Hendrick’s Gin Garden Bar had me at utterly whimsical and exceedingly charming. The cocktails sounds so inviting–drinks with names!

I’m not a big shopper, but I do love making my annual beeline to the Flower Show’s vendor area to visit my favorite, The Hudson Valley Seed Company.

Look at these seed packets! They’re drop-dead glorious: colorful, whimsical, precious, vibrant and more. I’d buy the packets for the illustrations alone–yes, even were they seedless. Is there an award for whoever designs these? Because … please!

When I was a little girl, I would pick Johnny Jump Ups (a.k.a. “jaunty little violas with dainty flowers”) by the handfuls from the neighboring Malloy’s yard, place them in a shot glass with water and present them to my mom.

I see what you did there, you artist-designer, you … marrying the Siberian Husky dog breed with the watermelon seed’s proper name. Clever.

Hudson Valley Seed Company offers an abundance of items for purchase at its Flower Show vending stall, including these beautiful hardcover books. It’s a veritable Garden Gift Shop.

One of the things I love best about the PHS Flower Show is people-watching those who dress to the nines (or should I say “vines?”) to suit the occasion.

If you’re going to give me the side- or stink eye, at least do it with some style a la this eye-catching piece spotted and zeroed in on during my romp through vendor sites.

“Butterflies Live” is a perennial favorite at the Flower Show.

A serendipitous photo-catch happened on show exit; I grabbed my phone and caught this last-minute sweet capture.

We ended the day by stopping at a new eats’ place in Philadelphia’s Fashion District Mall called The Little Hot Dog Wagon. From Left, Anne Foote, restaurant owner Dawn Demry, Sharon Kozden and Demry’s son. Demry’s homemade kraut is phenomenal!