This year’s Philadelphia Flower Show will tell the story of American gardening

Pennsylvania Horticultural officials have billed the 2026 Flower Show — Philly’s first major event of its yearlong festivities planned for the 250th anniversary of America — as a celebration of the history of American gardening.

The show’s theme, “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening,” honors the people, places, and traditions that have shaped gardening — and invites visitors to consider where their own gardening stories began.

“Gardening knowledge does not appear out of nowhere,” said Matt Rader, president of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which hosts the show annually at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. “It’s shared, adapted, and passed forward. It reflects our culture, memory, ourselves, our experiences.”

On Wednesday, planners revealed first-look renderings of this year’s iteration of the Flower Show, the nation’s largest, and the world’s longest-running horticultural event, which runs Feb. 28 to March 8. At the event held at the historic Union Trust Building in Market East, built on the site of the inaugural Flower Show in 1829, officials honored the city’s role as the birthplace of democracy and America’s first Flower Show. The Horticultural Society will mark its 200th anniversary in 2027.

“It is fitting that we gather here as we prepare for an extraordinary moment in our history in 2026,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “The Flower Show offers a first impression of our city. It’s creative, it’s inspiring, and it’s deeply rooted in who we are as a people and a place.”

This year’s show represents the third in a series of themes exploring gardening over time. Earlier shows celebrated present-day gardening communities and envisioned bolder ones for the future.

“This theme is very much an opportunity to reflect on the origins of American gardening,” said Rader. “‘What is the story that we tell through gardening,’ and ‘how do we want to use it to shape Philadelphia, the country, and the world moving forward?”

The show will debut a reimagined Marketplace shopping destination, located in a new street-level space below the main exhibit halls. It will also feature an expanded Artisan Row, where guests can work alongside nearly 40 vendors and craftspeople to create everything from fresh floral crowns to dried bouquets and terrariums.

Popular attractions and events, like early morning tours, Bloom Bar, and “Fido Fridays,” where four-legged friends find time among the flowers, all return. The Flowers After Hours dance party, scheduled for Saturday, March 7, transforms the show into an enchanted, fairytale forest setting, with guests encouraged to wear “fantasy-inspired attire,” planners said.

With America’s 250th anniversary fast-approaching, planners felt it was the moment to “pause and acknowledge” the roots, traditions, and resilience of American gardening, said Seth Pearsoll, vice president and creative director of the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Those roots shape the show’s entrance garden, a sprawling, misty forest floor creation drawing on the diverse inspirations of American gardens, and featuring mossy stonework, Zen-like sculptural plantings, water displays, and crowned with a towering, twisting root structure.

“That garden sets the tone dramatically,” Pearsoll said. “We wanted it to feel timeless, grounded. We wanted to create a place to allow guests to slow down before moving forward.”

This year’s special exhibition, “The American Landscape Showcase,” celebrates the national milestone, also known as the Semiquincentennial, with four gardens highlighting how gardening has shaped communities and evolved over 250 years.

“It reflects the influence of shared knowledge, cultural traditions, and regional practices that continue to shape how we garden today,” he said.

Other gardens will feature exhibits from acclaimed international florists. Each year, thousands of exhibitors compete in more than 900 classes or categories, ranging from horticulture and arrangement to design and photography.

“Whether you come for the artistry, the education, the family experiences, or simply to be surrounded by some of the most gorgeous beauty in the middle of the winter, there’s a place for you here,” Pearsoll said.

With more than 200,000 guests expected at this year’s milestone show, the event represents the Horticultural Society’s biggest fundraiser, supporting its greening efforts across the city, said Rader.

“This is the home of American horticulture,” he said. “The Flower Show is our invitation to the world to join us here.”