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The 2016 Flower Show brings the Grand Canyon, Glacier National Park and other American landmarks to Philadelphia in hopes of inspiring some future travel plans.
The annual Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Flower show honors the centennial of the National Parks Service this year.
“We’re calling it Explore America,” said Alan Jaffe, PHS Director of Communications. “We’re trying to have people understand the depth and breadth of what the National Parks Service (does) and interest people in visiting sites they haven’t been to before; learning more about iconic places throughout the country.”
“There are 30 exhibits drawing inspiration from the American landscape. The displays are not just looking at the natural beauty of a specific park but historical sites and stories of American heritage and cultural elements,” Jaffe said. “The whole National Parks celebration is not just about the sites that they manage but getting people interested in their own backyards and what great resources are available in their regions.”
“When people go to a national park, one of the first things they do is visit an information center or lodge,” Jaffe said. This year’s entrance garden, the Big Timber Lodge, “will reflect traditional park architecture but have some very 21st century elements like giant projection screens; people will be transported to different sites all over the country.”
The entrance garden features native American plants from “unusual species of evergreen and different kinds of flowers so you’ll get a very good sampling of what you would find in the United States landscape in that initial encounter,” Jaffe said.
With so much to do, it can take the entire run of the show to see it all. Jaffe advises visitors to familiarize themselves with the layout and exhibits at www.flowershow.com before coming. Once at the show, there will be three trails to follow, each of which represents a specific element of the show from the parks themselves to historical sites to natural culture. The different trails will be laid out on show maps and easy to follow in the Convention Center.
Jaffe suggests attendees “take your time. Give yourself a couple of hours to walk through all of the displays right around the Big Timber Lodge because those will be some of the most fantastic creations at the show.”
One of the most exciting exhibits, according to Jaffe, is the “Find Your Park Pavilion,” created by the National Parks Service. “People can go meet park rangers and (see) presentations about different parks and adventure videos. It’s a great place to go learn about the various parks around the country.”
It’s also family friendly.
“Children can become involved in the junior ranger program there,” Jaffe said. “They’ll receive a booklet that includes activities for them to use to travel around the show floor and if they complete enough, they’re sworn in as junior rangers.”
This year’s show features new and returning attractions. For the first time, the show has a railway garden, where trains will travel through miniature National Parks and American landmarks. Returning this year is Butterflies Live, where visitors can interact with 20 different species of butterflies.
A day at the flower show can be tiring so PHS is bringing back one of its pop up gardens in an area called Base Camp, where people are encouraged to relax. There is live music, and free tastings from Fine Wine and Good Spirits. PHS’s hard apple cider is available to buy, as will other craft beers and wines.
Food options are plentiful. When arriving at the show, stop by the trail mix bar near Big Timber Lodge for snacks to take through the exhibits.
This year’s show is ambitious and Jaffe has high hopes it will make visitors more in touch with what the National Parks Service does.
“Our goal is for people to become more aware of the parks that exist in their regions and in other parts of the country,” he said. “We want people to learn more about them, appreciate them and learn how they can preserve and protect them and bring them into their own lives.”
The parks service hopes to “get a new generation interested in visiting national parks,” Jaffe said. “Some parks have billions of visitors over the course of the year, but there’s others that are not as well known because people haven’t discovered them yet. We’re hoping that they’re going to come explore these other sites.
General admission tickets to the show are $27. The show is the major fundraiser for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Ticket sales “make sure we can continue to do the programs we do year round. Each ticket has a great impact on the communities that we live in,” Jaffe said. This includes tree planting and creating community parks and gardens that help feed people through PHS’s City Harvest Program.
