Nice… but Take Me Back Inside
June 20th, 2022
I liked the new streamlined layout of the 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show, which ended Sunday after being held outside for only the second time in its 194-year history.
The flower-lined beds leading into the 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show.
I also thought the display gardens were a cut above the 2021 ones, and I liked the spread-out conditions of FDR park’s 15-acre venue over the cattle-herd packing inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the show’s usual venue in non-COVID times.
See George’s Photo Gallery of scenes from 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show.
That said, I’m ready for the show to go back to its “natural habitat” inside in early March.
The one big thing an outdoor Philadelphia Flower Show in June can’t beat is the wow-inducing awe of going into a flower-scented, blooming-on-all-cylinders, 10-acre plant heaven when it’s still cold and dark outside.
To me, that – and the amazing expertise of what the designers create on bare concrete in late winter – is what makes the Philadelphia Flower Show so special.
No wonder the show is the biggest, longest-running, and, I’d argue, the best indoor flower show in the world.
The show’s producer, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, hasn’t said yet what it plans to do next year. An announcement reportedly is in the works this week. (Update: PHS announced that the 2023 show will be going back inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center March 4-12, 2023.)
For one thing, a lot of people told PHS last year they much prefer the show inside. Navigating the heat outside was a common complaint.
PHS isn’t releasing attendance figures, but it seemed to me during my three visits this year that attendance wasn’t up to the 250,000 range that the show typically draws over nine days inside in early March.
Bus traffic also was noticeably less, and several regular show-goers told me last year they’d be back only if/when the show goes back inside.
That’s not to say that a lot of people also didn’t prefer the show outside. Some liked it better at FDR Park with the lakeside setting, the many naturally June-blooming shrubs and flowers, and especially the roomier setting.
PHS, in other words, got a mixed bag of reviews.
The last time I talked to the show’s director, Sam Lemheney, he mentioned that the PHS still views the flower show as an indoor one.
So I think we’re headed back inside a soon as COVIDly possible.
I also heard rumors that PHS is considering some kind of auxiliary outdoor show – possibly in fall – since a fair chunk of the public was receptive to the outdoor idea.
Mark Cook Landscaping won best-of-show honors for this display garden at the 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show.
At this year’s show, I agreed with the PHS judges’ selection of Mark Cook Landscaping’s “Entangled” display as the show’s best garden.
It was immaculate with several formal ponds – including one with a large pergola overhead – and full-color plantings all throughout.
I also liked Jennifer Designs “Rhythm in Bloom,” which featured a floral DJ spinning discs inside a dance room with the ceiling and walls covered in cut and dried flowers. That one was the most fun of the main displays.
Two other gardens were standouts for their use of color and skillful mixing and matching of perennials – Susan Cohan’s cottage garden with a yellow-trimmed shed and Auburn University’s “Mixed Shades, Much Joy” garden that was inspired by nature poet Effie Lee Newsome.
Most unusual was an army-tank-sized floral mound with 16 large tentacles coming out from around it. Each tentacle had about 40 live reishi mushrooms on it. Called “Are Mushrooms Flowers,” this display by New York’s Martha Schwartz was filled with all sorts of interesting mushrooms factoids, including one that mushrooms are more like animals than plants.
See George’s Photo Gallery of scenes from 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show.
We’ll find out soon if the show is inside or outside for 2023.
I’ll go to it either way.
Except I’ll be a little more eager if it’s back inside in early March.