Photo of the Week: Explore America at the Philadelphia Flower Show

Imagine you’re in a place where everywhere you look, there’s a rainbow of colors around you.

A cornucopia of bright reds, deep oranges, buttercup yellows, royal blues, pastel pinks, forest greens, pale purple, and brilliant whites are not only at eye-level, they’re 20 feet above you as well as at your feet.

And now imagine, it’s not a dream. What an amazing sight to see!

That’s how I felt earlier today as I made my first visit to the Philadelphia Flower Show, America’s largest flower show.

Hosted by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, this year’s flower show features amazing exhibits and gorgeous prize-winning flowers, plants, and floral arrangements.

I kept thinking, these flowers and plants can’t get any more beautiful.

And I would turn the corner, only to see another stunning flower, landscaped area, or incredible flower arrangement!

Yellow rhododendron

Explore America

The theme for this year’s flower show, Explore America, honors the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. One entire section of the show is dedicated to exhibits and displays about our national parks, including Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Acadia, and others.

As I walked through the show, I enjoyed talking with the National Park Rangers at the exhibits. Several rangers are from Pennsylvania national parks, but I also spoke with one ranger who works in Seattle, and spent several years working at Mt. Ranier National Park.

My favorite National Park Service exhibit was Yellowstone National Park, created by Stoney Bank Nurseries, local Pennsylvania landscape architecture company.

The exhibit depicts Yellowstone after the wildfires in the 1990’s. Blackened trees are surrounded by wildflowers. You don’t have to look hard to find the red fox and gray wolf making their way through the woods.

Gray wolf on downed log in the forest

Look carefully at the gray wolf, you’ll see he was created with evergreens!

Here’s a few more of the shots I took today:

If you’re a fan of flowers and horticulture, I highly recommend you visit the Philadelphia Flower Show in the spring!

Photo of author

About the Author

Deborah Edwards-Oñoro enjoys birding, gardening, taking photos, reading, and watching tennis. She's retired from a 25+ year career in web design, usability, and accessibility.