This year’s Flower Show by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) features diversity of exhibitors, and larger, immersive gardens meant to envelop guests in a magical floral world.

The Entrance Garden design this year creates a sense of mystery and intrigue with its rounded, transparent, mesh scrim that offers a fragrant hint of the opulent and lush floral world awaiting within. The silhouetted plants and flowers on the exterior of the space invite curious guests inward, through a grey hued entrance. By using a mesh scrim to conceal and encapsulate the space, guests are enveloped in a 360-degree world of unique floral pairings, textures, light, fragrance, and vibrant colors; creating an immersive, sensory experience that captures the feeling of “The Garden Electric.”

For the first time in Show history, several designers were invited to create gardens that range from 2,200 – 2,900 square feet, the largest gardens ever seen at the event. This creative direction continues the immersive experience of the previous two outdoor Flower Shows, enveloping guests in a 360-degree floral world that can be experienced from multiple viewpoints. This year’s artists hail from around the globe featuring notable up-and-coming designers as well as established industry veterans known for shaping the industry.

In its return indoors, and for the first time, the Flower Show adopted the concept of a winding promenade. This guided path is a departure from how all previous Shows have been laid out, creating a lush, self-guided experience for guests to view and engage with stunning gardens and flowers up close.

Information on the full list of exhibitors, musical talent, marketplace, and more for the 2023 Philadelphia Flower Show are available at: phsonline.org/the-flower-show. Tickets are available for purchase at tickets.phsonline.org.

Below is a short list of do-not-miss designers this year.

Black Girl Florists Network

Among the lineup of renowned exhibitors, is the Black Girl Florists network. This network was created to support and celebrate black women in floristry, and the group offers workshops, group training sessions, and more to deliver on this impactful mission. Their exhibit draws inspiration from their own unity as black florists, illustrating that together, they contribute to the growth and sustainability of their presence in the floral industry. The exhibit features an array of vibrantly colored florals reflective of the theme, lighting elements, and large-scale barrels brimming with stunning flowers pouring into a 10-ft. tree.

Ill Exotics

Ill Exotics, a boutique shop based in Philadelphia and specializing in uncommon plants from aroids to orchids and captive-bred fauna, created “Studio Exotica” a Studio-54 inspired disco taken over by tropical foliage and flowers, complete with a floral DJ, bartender, and dancers. 

Newfields led by Jonathan Wright

Renowned and esteemed designer Jonathan Wright, Director of The Garden and Fairbanks Park at Newfields, is exhibiting this year for the first time. Known as a gardening tastemaker in the field of public gardens for his creative design sensibility and elegant, yet contemporary approach, guests can anticipate a breathtaking 360-degree, mixed-media installation featuring projections, music, and florals reminiscent of immersive art shows.

Harijanto Setiawan

Harijanto Setiawan, a recipient of the Designer of the Year Award in 2013 by the President of Singapore, is an architect-turned-florist and founder of Boenga floral studio. He has worked with high-end clients such as Chanel, Dior, Hermes, Vacheron Constantin, Piaget, Swarovski, Manolo Blahnik, and Audi, uniting floral design, architecture, and high fashion. Look forward to innovative and architectural floral sculptures that captivate lovers of decadent and imaginative design.

Treeline Designz

Treeline Designz, led by Iftikhar Ahmed, will bring to life a concept that pays tribute to children facing war in Ukraine. This exhibit sheds light on Ukrainian children who have been uprooted from their homes and exposed to war. Ahmed believes that garden and landscape design can contribute to making the world a more livable, equitable, resilient, and just place. His exhibit uses locally-grown trees and plants to envision a magical, twinkling fairy house, home to the Peace Fairy, who watches over and protects all children.

Susan Cohan Gardens

Renowned garden and landscape designer Susan Cohan, named “Designer of the Year in 2021” by The Association of Professional Landscape Designers, returns to the Flower Show in 2023. Her firm’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that thoughtful and responsibly designed landscapes enhance our lives. Cohan celebrates the joy and exuberance we feel at the start of spring. Through utilizing a variety of spring ephemerals, a suspended interactive swing, and spiral motifs, Cohan invokes the blissfulness of a spring day.

ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), an internationally recognized nonprofit organization founded in 1827, uses horticulture to advance the health and well-being of the Greater Philadelphia region. PHS programs create healthier living environments, increase access to fresh food, expand access to jobs and economic opportunity, and strengthen deeper social connections between people. PHS’s work spans 250 neighborhoods; an expansive network of public gardens and landscapes; year-round learning experiences; and the nation’s signature gardening event, the Philadelphia Flower Show. PHS provides everyone with opportunities to garden for the greater good as a participant, member, donor, or volunteer.

ABOUT THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW

The PHS Philadelphia Flower Show is the nation’s largest, and the world’s longest-running horticultural event and features stunning displays by some of the world’s premier floral and landscape designers. Started in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Show introduces diverse and sustainable plant varieties and garden and design concepts. In addition to acres of garden displays, the Flower Show hosts world-renowned competitions in horticulture and artistic floral arranging, gardening presentations and demonstrations, and special events.

Walnut Street Theatre (WST) continues its 214^th season with a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Written by literary genius Tennessee Williams (who premiered his A Streetcar Named Desire at the Walnut in 1947), the production continues through March 12 on the Walnut’s Mainstage.

Enjoyed the press preview last week, where the audience was transported to the sweltering Mississippi Delta.

In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brick and his wife Maggie “the Cat” are celebrating the birthday of Brick’s father, Big Daddy. But Big Daddy is disturbed and disappointed by the tempestuous relationship between his prized son Brick, an aging football hero who is desperately trying to escape reality, and the beautiful and feisty Maggie. As the hot summer evening unfolds, the veneer of Southern gentility slips away, and long-hidden truths emerge. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a powerful, not to be missed, Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece.

Bringing this masterpiece to life is the Walnut’s own Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard. Havard’s Walnut directorial credits include Blithe Spirit, A Woman of No Importance, The Humans, God of Carnage, ART, Someone to Watch Over Me, Skylight, and Driving Miss Daisy. He has spent his life in theatre as an actor, stage manager, director, managing director and producer. Recognized as one of America’s leading theatre producers, he has proudly served America’s Oldest Theatre for over 40 years. Under his leadership, the Walnut became a not-for-profit, self-producing theatre and has gained international recognition as one of America’s premier regional theatres.

Playing the role of Margaret (Maggie the Cat) is Walnut veteran and former WST Acting Apprentice Alanna Smith. Smith recently starred in the TV movie rom-com, Love Afloat (Crackle) and will be seen in the upcoming Disney+ film Chang Can Dunk. Recent Walnut credits include Young Frankenstein, Noises Off, The Importance of Being Earnest, and A Funny Thing…Forum.

Returning after going the distance in his Walnut Debut as the “Italian Stallion” Rocky Balboa in Rocky, the Musical is Matthew Amira playing the role of Brick, the former football hero turned alcoholic. Amira’s theatre credits include Jersey Boys (Ogunquit Playhouse, Fulton Theatre, Maine State Music Theatre), The Carole King Musical (National Tour) and Dirty Dancing (National Tour).

Walnut audiences will immediately recognize Scott Greer, who will play Brick’s father Big Daddy, the large, brash, and vulgar plantation millionaire. A Walnut veteran, Greer was the romance rummaging Barney Cashman in the most recent mainstage production, Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Greer has also been seen at the Walnut in A Funny Thing Happened…Forum, Laughter on the 23^rd Floor, Buddy, of Mice and Men, and Brighton Beach Memoirs, among others. Returning to the Walnut as the grotesquely over-fashioned yet sweet and breathless Big Mama is Wendy Scharfman. Scharfman has appeared Off-Broadway in Through Darkest Ohio (Public Theater), Bird House (Mint), and regionally in Driving Miss Daisy (National Tour) Glass Menagerie (National Tour), and Quartet (WST).

Joining the family as Gooper, a successful corporate lawyer and the scheming brother to Brick, is David Bardeen. Bardeen was last seen at the Walnut in Peter and the Starcatcher, Little Voice, Travels With My Aunt, among others. Playing Gooper’s wife and partner in crime, Mae, is Alicia Roper. Roper was recently seen on the Walnut stage in Blithe Spirit, A Woman of No Importance, and The Curious Incident, among others.

Returning to the Walnut as the tactless, opportunistic, and hypocritical guest Reverend Tooker is Johnnie Hobbs, Jr. Walnut audiences will remember Hobbs in Thurgood, Oleanna, Driving Miss Daisy (National Tour), The Other Place, and The Best Man. Playing the role of Big Daddy’s physician Doctor Baugh is Michael P. Toner. Toner’s past with the Walnut includes as an actor and director. Toner was recently seen on stage as Clarence the Angel in It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play and as director of Stones in His Pockets. Playing the role of the family’s maid Sookey is Natasha S. Truitt. Truitt recently made her Walnut debut understudying in Rocky, the Musical.

The cast also features two teams of young local actors, alternating performances, who play Mae and Gooper’s children. Violet Mae Badeau of Chadds Ford, PA and Kelsey Noel Briggs of Collegeville, PA portray Dixie. Gavin Barden of Mullica Hill, NJ and Jackson Deen Goral of Jamison, PA take on the role of Buster. Playing Trixie are both Olivia Hiepler of Marietta, PA and Faye Lorena Stockmal of Bryn Mawr, PA. Grant Knudson of Collingswood, NJ and Raphael Sommer of Merion Station, PA play Sonny. 

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’ CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF runs at the Walnut through March 12. Media Sponsors are 6ABC and Metro Philadelphia. For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550. Tickets are also available online 24/7 by visiting WalnutStreetTheatre.org or Ticketmaster.com.  

Photo of Alanna Smith by Mark Garvin