Five things not to miss and one to skip at the 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show

When words fall short, as they so often do, flowers have the power to say what we can’t, to bring us together in gratitude and in grief, in gardens and in graveyards.

Like music, flowers are a universal language. When we receive them we feel seen, when we grow them we feel connected, and when we share them we feel good.

At a time when many seem to be sowing division (it is an election year), we can always look to Mother Nature to petal unity.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society taps into that connective power of plants with this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show theme, “United by Flowers.”

Now in its 195th year, the show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center runs from March 2 to 10 and is billed as a celebration of the communities, connections, and reflections that blossom while gardening. It’s also, by design and longevity, an enduring illustration of the power of flowers to bring us together.

At the media and members preview Friday, where the line to enter snaked through the lobby and up the escalator, Carlita Gibson of New York City said she loved the theme.

“I think that’s a perfect message for right now, we need something to make everyone come together,” she said. “And this is working. You saw that line, right?”

The stunning entrance garden — featuring a mind-bending amount of vibrant flowers (75,000) and the show’s largest body of water ever (8,500 gallons) — is impossible to miss, but if you’re crunched for time or looking for some other highlights, here are five things not to miss and one to skip at this year’s Flower Show:

Once again, Jennifer Designs of Mullica Hill, N.J., does not disappoint with its floral display, “America in Bloom,” that taps into the roads, climates, and flowers that connect us.

The exhibit features a little red convertible occupied by two mannequins and a dog, all made of maps. Ready for a road trip, they’re driving off into a massive rendering of the United States awash in a rainbow of flowers, each ribbon of color representing a different plant hardiness zone, defined regions that help gardeners know which plants survive specific climates.

At an interactive map behind the display, guests are encouraged to “choose your own flower adventure” by picking one of five road trips that highlight gardens and arboretums across the U.S.

Black Girl Florists, an international community organization, blends the “safety, openness, and creativity” found in Black salons and Black flower shops with its display, “Cultivating Communal Sanctuaries.”

This multifaceted exhibit features salon chairs and a wall of wigs bedecked in flowers; a black mannequin with a train of long, flowing, floral hair; and racks of Ebony and Essence magazines.

The exhibit illustrates that designing with other artists — whether hairstylists or florists — creates a sense of community and fosters a shared appreciation of the beauty that is around us, and within us.

Several exhibits this year highlight the beauty of nature reclaiming spaces abandoned by humanity, including W.B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences’ “Seeds of Us,” the centerpiece of which is a tractor that’s been at the school since the 1950s decorated to look like it’s been overgrown by moss.

In Temple University’s exhibit, “Piers, Progress & Process,” an abandoned Pennsport dock is flooded with plant life, and greenery pushes its way out of the window of an empty shipping company building.

And in a “A Beautiful Disturbance” by Kelly D. Norris, LLC of Des Moines, Iowa, an abandoned lot is reclaimed by weeds and wildflowers, which somehow become more beautiful the longer you look at them.

At the Hamilton Horticourt, where exhibitors put up their beloved plants to compete in more than 900 categories, a monkey’s tail cactus with long, flowing tendrils stunned passersby who called it “scary” and “wild” and likened it to Medusa’s snake hair.

“It’s amazing, unique, and complex,” Laurie Cameron of Stockton, N.J., said. “I want to touch it but I’m not going to.”

The cactus is owned by Nakia Maples, a.k.a. “Philly Plant Guy,” who’s dished out gardening advice on Facebook for years and has more than 200 plants in his Germantown home. The four-year-old monkey’s tail, which was Maples’ first entry into a plant competition, won first place in the nonflowering succulent category.

“Winning first prize fills my heart with joy being so I’ve never competed before,” Maples said. “I was so nervous bringing her to the show hoping that everyone would enjoy her as much as I do. She’s a bit intimidating to look at but very friendly. And now she is a blue ribbon winner.”

Two wildly imaginative submissions in the Tablescape design category stand out this year, including “Unbirthday Tea Party Prescription” by Horticulture in Healing, which brings to life a dinner party in Wonderland, complete with anthropomorphic flowers, a white rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat.

“Gallery Gala” by The Siblings, imagines a dinner party for paleontologists, with a full-size dinosaur as the guest of honor and birds of paradise plants as the focal point of a dinner table centerpiece.

The line to walk through Lakeside School Greenhouse’s exhibit “Come Together,” which is a nod to the Italian Market in South Philly.

The display itself, which features a produce stand, restaurant, bakery, and two rowhouses, is delightful, but the line to weave through it, at times, was long. The exhibit can just as easily be admired from the outside.

But if you do decide to venture in, see if you can spot the artfully placed plate of cannoli.