PHS presents the 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show: Gardens of Tomorrow

Enjoy the showstoppers

All the displays (more than 30) located in Hall A were intricately developed. The hot-pink geometric design in PHS’s Futura Florentia, featuring rose-embedded glass globes enveloped by a gentle rain, is gorgeous. I loved the Beatrix Potter-style farmhouse in Welcoming Wildlife Home from Jennifer Designs. A stairway to heaven from Simply Nia Design is another highlight, as well as the roller-coaster-inspired Color Carnival from Waldor Orchids. Bill Schaffer and Kristine Kratt's larger Tron-inspired ecosystem, Nexus, utilized an international 26-person team. Its sci-fi wizardry incorporates disembodied heads, wire wreaths, and hydroponic test tubes. Kazuyuki Ishihara and Iftikhar Ahmed of Treeline Designz collaborate brilliantly on Tomorrow’s Eden – Gardens for a Changing World, producing a multi-tiered forest-scape in the Convention Center. Give yourself time to appreciate the numerous moss layers, the smoky bogs, and the gentle forest path. These striking installations might require battling overwhelming crowds, but they’re definitely worth it.

Pace yourself

Bring a water bottle for the refill stations. If you forget snacks, there are numerous food vendors. If you can't sit inside the main hall, use the Convention Center's lounge seating or the tables in Bloom City. Pace yourself. If you need to leave the show and return later in the day, you can get your hand stamped.

Honor the amateurs and youngsters

Flower Show Design Classes enable individuals, school groups, or clubs to exhibit their creativity with guided prompts. Normally, my expectations for elementary, high school, or college entrants are minimal, but this year, EVERYONE hit a home run. The Class 167: Window Box & Lamp Post designs, Class 161: Entryway designs, and Class 160: Garden imaginings are my favorite cottagecore arrangements. The larger exhibition contributions from Temple University, W.B. Saul High School, Lankenau Magnet High School, and Mercer County College spotlight gorgeous sustainable agriculture like aquaponics and hydroponics in the latter half of Hall A.

Time your visit

If you’re looking to avoid the crowds, there is a daily Early Morning Tour (8-10am), which includes all-day admission, and an “Out of This World!” after-hours dance party (21+) on Saturday, March 8, at 8:30pm. But if you just want to attend the show with a smaller crowd, try arriving before noon or after 4pm on the weekend (bonus: daily Twilight Tickets for entry after 4pm are $10 cheaper).

When I attended on opening weekend, there were SO MANY humans rocking the latest botanical-inspired fashions. (If I missed you, don't worry, I saw you). You looked fabulous. Even if you don’t wear futuristic floral stylings, do check out the “Purple Rain” hat installation from Class 180.

Find education and inspiration

The focus on sustainability helps educate attendees on creative hydroponic usage, from glass test tubes to crystal spheres to space-saving inverted designs. Don’t Call It Dirt, Don’t Call It Trash, an exhibit by the design studio OLIN and Remark Glass, replaces biological plants with glass replicas constructed from glass waste. Did you know seven million tons of unrecycled glass are tossed into US landfills annually? OLIN’s informative display reminds us to be mindful. Similarly, Ahti Lyra’s concrete jungle illustrates that plants still grow in the most urban environments.

The Hamilton Horticourt boasts prize-winning individual plants of every description, and extensive art displays include dioramas, miniature arrangements, photography, watercolor, and stunning plant-based collages from professional and student artists alike.

Support small businesses

While larger sponsors offer impressive botanical rose gardens (Hendrick’s Gin), multi-colored fashion cubes (QVC), and green glass roof tiles surrounding a multi-media display and influencer garden (City of Qingdao), the regional vendors equally need our support. Ti-a Woven Goods, a woman-led business offering imported handwoven goods, has 833 weavers from Bolgatanga, Ghana. COPA Soaps, an all-natural, Philly-based, Black-owned business, has a 25-year history.

If you’re looking for more fanciful fashions, check out Bohemian Pink’s glitter butterflies, Christine Shirley’s lemon and strawberry knit cardigans, or Soul and Story’s carpet bags. Outside the Exhibition Hall, Bloom City boasts the PA Game Commission seed giveaway, reps for New Jersey tourism giving away free saltwater taffy, and even more artisans selling pet portraits, succulents, and more.

Keep photos fun for everyone

If your social media photos require extra staging time, PHS offers daily Early Morning Photography Tours from 8-10am. But if you can’t make it that early, be considerate of the crowd. Do not spend 20 minutes taking 30 shots while 50 people wait. On the flip side, stay aware and give other photographers a moment by not walking in front of their shot. (Shout-out to the numerous women who offered to assist me.) And high fives to everyone waiting in line on Saturday to take selfies in the botanical bar’s rose-trellised swing. I loved seeing so many people eagerly volunteer to help stage each other’s photos.

Find hope for the future

While the current presidential administration may rescind federal environmental protections, the 196th Philadelphia Flower Show gives me hope for the future. Yes, our current administration might rescind the finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous. Yes, National Park workers, including a pair from Alaska who are fighting back, are being let go. Yes, a recent executive order would increase logging in national forests (and we might deal with the formaldehyde impacts sooner than expected).

But this show’s focus on “a healthier, more sustainable, more beautiful future," according to PHS president Matt Rader, gives me hope. No matter what, even the starkest urban landscape will grow flowers from the cracks. The Flower Show is an urban oasis offering cultivated beauty, inspiration, and peace. Check it out before it closes on Sunday, March 9, 2025.