Bringing in new displays, vendors and ideas, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) hosted the annual Philadelphia Flower Show March 4-12 inside the Philadelphia Convention Center. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this was the first time since 2019 that the show was held indoors. The 2023 flower show theme was The Garden Electric. According to creative director Seth Pearsoll, the PHS chose the theme to celebrate the more exciting side of flowers rather than the soothing side they had celebrated in years prior. “[The 2021 and 2022] theme had to respond to what was happening in the world and, at the time, what the world needed from plants and horticulture was that plants have a positive relationship to mental health, which is why we had a theme that explored mental health in gardening issues,” Pearsoll said.  Pearsoll said that this year they wanted to celebrate the more colorful and bright aspects of horticulture. “The Garden Electric is really a theme that is capturing when you see something
so beautiful. Maybe you see a garden or arrangement that is so rich with color and so saturated and fragrant and so sensory that it almost jolts you and feels like it has its own electricity or it’s alive,” Pearsoll said. “The Garden Electric is about that specific moment when you are florastruck.” The turn around for the show this year was much quicker than years prior forcing the organizers to have to plan things rapidly after completing the last Covid-impacted show in June 2022. “It’s been researching and working at a breakneck speed. It’s pushing all of your vendors and contractors to get back to you with a design after edit,” Pearsoll said. One of the things Pearsoll is most excited for this year is the entrance to the show. “We have an incredible concept. It’s bold, it’s immersive, it’s this magical garden world,” Pearsoll said. Pearsoll said this year organizers spent a lot of time focusing on designing a show that guests could walk through with ease. “The way we layed out the gardens, it’s this beautiful meandering path through organically shaped gardens with interesting curves and rounded shapes,” Pearsoll said, “and then there are some of the best landscape designers and florists in the world and region.” According to butterfly exhibit owner John Dailey, he enjoys seeing the impact the butterflies make on people. “There’s always a special moment that occurs when some person or child reacts to the butterflies for the first time in their life. You just see the thrill that’s inside them,” Dailey said. This was the first year that New York resident Jae Bueno was a flower show volunteer. “It is literally vital to our lives to continue being green,” Bueno said. “The flower show…continues doing the work that PHS does, which is to keep Philadelphia green,” Bueno said. According to PHS’s website, some of the things they do include provide access to fresh food, create healthy neighborhoods, and grow economic opportunities and social connections. For Pearsoll, the nice thing about the flower show is that people can have a good time while supporting the PHS’s mission. “It’s a fundraiser and it’s doing good,” Pearsoll said.