Philadelphia Flower Show 2012

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society announced this week the theme of the 2012 Philadelphia Flower Show. In a nod to the tropics, this year's theme is "Hawaii: Islands of the Aloha." The media event in Philadelphia this past week had all of the flower show dignitaries wearing Hawaiian leis.

The Philadelphia Flower Show, happening on March 4th through 11th, is the nation's oldest flower show. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the parent group for this event, held its first flower show in 1829. According to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society site, that first how "was held in an 82-by-69-foot building called Masonic Hall on Chestnut Street. Twenty-five Society members showed off their horticultural treasures." Compare that with the 2012 show, which will be held in the Pennsylvania Convention Center—where the Flower Show has taken place since 1996. The convention center encompasses 33 indoor acres, with exhibit space taking up 10 acres of the main exhibit hall. With a space that big no wonder the flower show attracts more than 250,000 people each year.

New this year to help you navigate the flower show—The Flower Show App for Smartphones that will provide free maps, schedules, special offers, show features, and parking advice.

While the Philadelphia Flower Show includes competitions from landscape and floral designers, gardeners of all skill levels would enjoy attending this show to get tons of ideas for their own backyard gardens. There are free lectures and demonstrations on topics such as lei making and quilting, green roofs and walls, organic gardening, vegetables, edible landscapes, native plants, tree and lawn care, and ornamental horticulture.

Even non-gardeners will find something fun to do at the show. Thanks to the Hawaii theme, each day you can expect to enjoy hula, music, and fire dancing performances. In addition, you can bring your grandchildren and your husband, too, as there will be a family lounge with children's activities, and a "man cave" filled with all the trappings of a happy hideaway. Maybe he'll get some ideas on a man cave renovation that you can work on together.

Even though the show will be occurring in winter, the flower show will be like a warm tropical getaway, with exhibits of floral volcanoes, cut-bamboo designs, surf shacks, Hawaiian vistas, and a tribute to the memorial garden at Pearl Harbor.

General admission tickets to the flower show cost $27, and you can purchase tickets through the flower show website. As of this printing, if you purchase a ticket via the site, you'll get 10% off a ticket to see the "Van Gogh Up Close" show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Not bad if you're a green thumb and art lover who will be in the Philadelphia area in March!