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Pastoral. Primeval. Progressive. Pianos? Gardens of Tomorrow is the theme this week of the 2025 PHS Flower Show, and it’s clear that the future means different things to everyone.

(Which may be invoking more than just gardens at this moment in time.)

Innovative Design Visions 

Let’s have a look at a few of the best.

From pastoral but posh community green spaces…

To uber comfortable outside landscapes

To the refreshing notes of nostalgia and hope…

To mini Eden Projects…

 

To a houseplant parent’s dream outside garden…

To an immersive forest bathing experience. (Actually, two.)

 

To a forest dinner party that weirded me out but enchanted fellow garden writers and judges…

And yes there was a piano…

 

Which serves to remind the horticulturists out there that yes, Virginia, this is FIRST a florists’ show aimed at a people desperate to sniff anything green at this time of year, SECOND a place to sniff out new and upcoming designers/florists/landscapers; and THIRD, a show for gardeners, who sniff spring and are anxious to plant. 

And we just hope that the beginners don’t try too many of the floralistically fabulous, but horticulturally unsound pairings in their own gardens.

The 2025 PHS Flower Show is For You Too, Plant Peeps

Certainly there is plenty of horticultural inspo for competitive gardeners as always in the Hamilton Horticourt.

 

Though I have to admit that amidst all the pretty-pretty, this bizarrely fascinating cactus was my favorite:

 

Education is a Priority at the Show

The academic institutions such as University of Delaware and Temple University always put together engaging displays that teach as much as they wow — not surprisingly, aquaponics and hydroponics featured in this year’s futuristic theme.  

I was also really pleased to see a small display discussing the importance of trial gardens. Though they are rarely sexy (with the exception of Chicago Botanic), I like to think there were a few people paying attention and reading the signs.

 

 

Elsewhere in the Convention Center, The Know-to-Grow Speaker Series is in high gear for the second year in a row, and you can watch a host of great speakers all week long with the cost of your ticket.

Another great find: the new editor at The American Gardener, Rochelle Greayer of Pith and Vigor fame, manning a new booth with American Horticultural Society’s Director of Membership and Communications, Daniel Vincent.  May it be the beginning of many more Philly-area gardeners finding and joining AHS.

 

 

Frills and Frippery.  And Food.

Of course there is always the shopping.  Peony’s Envy wrestled some of this writer’s cash for a Cheddar’s Charm & Bowl of Beauty (with their selection, I got out lightly, believe me); and there’s always time for a Hendrick’s and tonic at their centrally (and conveniently) located booth.

 

 

And there is also the Reading Terminal Market directly across the street, where smart visitors go to have lunch at one of what feels like 400 talented vendors catering to all tastes.  My favorite Thai salmon curry from Little Thai Market was as usual, fantastic (go later to avoid a line).  And a good coffee can always be found at the Old City Coffee booth.

 

Sadly the Press Preview only lasts for four hours, which is nowhere near enough time to see this multi-faceted show which runs until Sunday March 9th this year.  Near the end of the day, fellow garden writer and podcaster Kathy Jentz and I compared flower crowns generously donated by DIY Weddings and PHS itself.

Final Thoughts on the 2025 PHS Flower Show

On the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Philadelphia I’d psyched myself up for a Jetson-esque experience of robotic machines, sterile labs, sharp angles, lots of metal, and postmodern elements that have never turned me on in a garden.  I’m one of those people who isn’t looking forward to living on Mars. 

What I got was a high-octane dose of naturalism, nostalgia, and innovative design. 

I enjoyed it a great deal more than last year’s show, which wowed with one or two main highlights, but didn’t carry the design torch throughout.  Though there were diverse interpretations of what the future has in store for gardens and landscapes, they were solid interpretations, and exceptionally competitive.

Many of the landscapes were immersive, and I could have happily pitched a tent and stayed for a night or two in several of them — listening to the burbling of a forest waterfall, or the sound of spring peepers in a low-lying wetland.  (And nipping over to the Hendrick’s booth for a quick nightcap.)

Though the PHS Flower Show is meant to be just that — a flower show, it is also the Colonies’ best answer to the Chelsea Flower Show, and it seems to get bigger every year.  Barring the pandemic year of 2021, it’s an inside thing, and though that wreaks havoc with photos, it’s vastly preferable to the unpredictably hot summers of the Mid-Atlantic that can wreak havoc with floral designs.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that some of these designers could have easily held their heads high amongst the great and the good at Chelsea. Is the RHS starting to pay attention with their new award? This writer hopes so. Susan Cohen and Treeline Designz certainly get my votes.

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This year’s PHS Flower Show is in full bloom inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center through March 9, 2025.  Buy tickets here.

The Future Looks Different to All of Us: The 2025 PHS Flower Show originally appeared on GardenRant on March 6, 2025.

The post The Future Looks Different to All of Us: The 2025 PHS Flower Show appeared first on GardenRant.

* This article was originally published here

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