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

Despite the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s best attempts to explain the theme of this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show — “The Garden Electric” — prior to its opening this weekend, visitors at a members and media preview Friday still had trouble wrapping their heads around the concept.

“I can’t say I understand ‘The Garden Electric’ as a theme,” one woman admitted, while another, who was trying to explain it to her friend, said, “It’s something electric, or electric something.”

But just because some folks didn’t get the theme doesn’t mean they weren’t electrified by the show. Guests gasped as they walked through an archway into the color-changing entrance garden; people talked about how clearly they could smell the flowers, even from great distances; and instead of “Hello,” some friends greeted each other with “Welcome to spring.” On March 3.

While the official theme of this year’s flower show is “The Garden Electric,” which PHS explains as “that spark of joy while giving or receiving flowers,” the theme could just as easily have been “A Return to the Indoors.”

Due to COVID-19, the show was held outside at FDR Park in June for the last two years, but this year it’s back at the Convention Center — and the crowds and lines are back with it.

While scaffolding and concrete floors can’t compete with blue skies and green grass when it comes to the landscape of the show, the electric theme — and the use of bright neon lights throughout — does help to bring some of that festival vibe the show acquired at FDR Park indoors at the Convention Center.

If you’re a first-time visitor, or a longtime attendee, here are five things not to miss, and one to skip, at the Philadelphia Flower Show this year:

After making your way through the entrance, look for the archway of neon lights and get in line for the “Eye Candy” exhibit by Philly-based Schaffer Designs.

As you wind through, you’ll see a candy shop where the confectioneries are made out of flowers; a giant doughnut frosted with pink petals; and a bakery where the flowers are the icing on the cake.

Walking through this exhibit is supposed to make you feel the “electric energy and magical excitement” of being a kid in a candy store. And it succeeds. Even the multicolored, pastel packing peanuts that fill the floors of this display look good enough to eat — and to jump in.

Newfields, home to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and 152 acres of nature and gardens, makes its debut at the show with an exhibit called “Art & Nature Illuminated.” The display features a giant mural of a blue crane and flora and fauna found in Indiana.

But the real gem of this exhibit can’t be seen from the outside. As visitors walk through, they enter a darkened room, where calming music plays and HD screens on both sides display videos of flowers in all seasons swaying in the breeze. Wait long enough, and you’ll also be treated to a kaleidoscopelike dance of petals as well.

Colette Pierce Burnette, president and CEO of Newfields and a University of Pennsylvania grad, was overcome with emotion as she stood in the video room Friday.

“We wanted to bring Indianapolis to Philly, so to be here and see this is a dream come true,” she said. “This is an exceptional experience. Every sense gets touched.”

The giant brain with purple electrical synapses firing throughout it and a large tree growing from the top by Jennifer Designs of Mantua Township is a mind-blowing (and glowing) experience.

“The Cerebral Garden” invites visitors to step inside of a brain, “the garden of the mind,” where they can light up different lobes with an interactive feature to see how our neural pathways and electrical impulses help shape our thoughts and perceptions of the world.

Kathy May, 68, of Chestnut Hill, said it was her favorite exhibit of the show.

“I think they made a great connection between the theme, flowers, people, and the brain,” she said. “It goes to show we’re not all dim-witted.”

After a hiatus in 2022, the show welcomes back the Miniature Settings (aka dioramas) category in its Competitive Classes.

This year’s theme, “Cleared for Takeoff,” challenged designers to make their dream destination in miniature. From a Scottish cottage to a Mexican graveyard and a Japanese teahouse, these displays may be tiny, but they’re big on story.

Be sure to look for the small details — like two Camel cigarettes burning a hole in a bed at a Madrid apartment - and try to formulate your own story, before reading the labels to see what inspired the designers.

Also exhibiting at the show for the first time this year is the city of Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province.

A horticultural city that’s home to giant pandas, Chengdu is presenting an exhibit featuring a large panda made of flowers and regular weaving demonstrations by Chinese bamboo artists.

Crystal Chen, 22, an advertising major at Temple University, volunteered as a translator at the exhibit Friday. She explained that the large sculpture at the display’s center, which features curved bamboo bent by fire, pays homage to the city tree of Chengdu, the ginkgo, and the city’s flower, the hibiscus.

“The sections are made to look like ginkgo leaves and those leaves come together to create the hibiscus flower,” she said.

The crowds and the food. The dining options on site don’t compare to the variety of food options that were available at FDR Park, or that are available within a half-mile radius of the Convention Center.

And even on a day when only PHS members and media were allowed at the show, the exhibits were crowded — and the people were pushy. Whether it was social media influencers skipping lines or longtime attendees telling me I was taking too long to look at an exhibit (I’m looking at you, Diane), people seemed to have little patience.

So if you can go to the show on a weekday, when crowds are likely to be thinner, do so. But just like getting on the Schuylkill, there may be heavy traffic any time you go, so be prepared.