Gardening roots bring Philadelphians to the Flower Show

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Philadelphia Flower Show is back at the Convention Center, full of colors, scented exhibits, flowery crowns, and roots.

Through March 8, visitors can celebrate the 197th edition of the region’s premier botanical show. This year’s installment commemorates the nation’s 250th anniversary under the theme “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening.”

The displays honor the people, places, and traditions that shaped gardening in the United States. So, we asked attendees on Saturday, the show’s opening day:

“What roots you into gardening?”

Judy Baskin, 70, and her husband, Richard Tassano, 77, have been gardening together for over 30 years.

Between raised beds, produce, and a mutual hatred of mowing, the Bala Cynwyd couple found in gardening a way to maintain and strengthen their connection with each other and their community.

“It’s really nice to do it together,” Baskin said. “But if you were to listen to us, there is a lot of ‘I don’t want that there,’ or ‘Move that there.’”

Those green debates have prompted better communication, and an easier time choosing their battles.

“You learn something new every year,” Tassano said. “You have to learn to let go and go figure out what you are going to sacrifice to the squirrels and raccoons.”

But the couple don’t just garden for themselves. Their tomatoes, lettuce, pesto, garlic, brussels sprouts, and peppers (hot and sweet) have also prompted better relationships with their neighbors.

“We have Cambodian neighbors we can’t talk to,” Baskin said, referencing a language barrier. “But we exchange vegetables that go from our gardens to our tables.”

For Mayumi Welman, 61, gardening brings back memories of loved ones and places she can now access only in her mind.

She drove three hours from Virginia to experience the Flower Show for the first time with her son, New Jersey resident Millan Welman.

As she and her son walked around, tiny flowers reminded Mayumi of her mother and her love for dianthus.

The poppies brought back memories of her kindergarten teacher, back in her native Japan, whose kindness with plants inspired a green thumb for a then-6-year-old Welman.

“Different plants bring back different memories of different people,” Welman said. “Tulips and roses are my favorites, but it’s too hard to pick because they are like choosing my favorite child.”

Despite not being a gardener himself, Welman’s only child, Millan, has learned a lot about life through seeing his mom care for plants.

“She gave me an appreciation and respect for the natural world,” Millan Welman said. “I look at her and I feel respect for that level of commitment and a certain nostalgia because it’s a sight I grew up with.”

Megan Robbins and her husband, Hunter, have over 50 plants at home, including a three-foot-high baby monstera.

The Bellmawr couple got into gardening in 2024, looking to improve air quality in their home, and found an unexpected love that brought them closer.

“It’s an intentional time spent together; you have to be locked in and there is always something you can do,” Hunter Robbins, 34, said. “It’s like having a kid.”

For Megan Robbins, also 34, gardening has helped with her seasonal depression just by touching her plants when she is feeling down.

“It’s really calming,” she said. “There is a sense of accomplishment that you are growing something that you created, an ecosystem. It feels like we are giving back.”

The greenery has also turned their living room and other corners of their home into a concert venue.

Megan Robbins plays classical music for the plants and her husband tunes them in to hip-hop to help them grow.

“The world is crazy enough, so it’s nice to have this space to set up long term and look forward to seeing grow in the future,” Hunter Robbins said.

Lorann Powell inherited her love for gardening from her parents, who gave her Sunflower as a middle name.

“I followed my mom around as she was a landscaper,” Powell said. “She grew everything, so I grew up learning to cultivate and feeding the neighborhood with our vegetables.”

The Graduate Hospital area still carries that love language. Powell, 65, spends the summers planting seasonal flowers for her neighbors to “make the block beautiful,” she said.

Sunflowers are her favorite things to plant, and she has already passed on the tradition of cultivating them to her children.

“It’s rooted in my system; it is my history and story,” Powell said. “I’m rooted to plant things and let it grow.”

For Dana Napier, 79, gardening means life — and resilience, particularly when practiced within the city limits.

“It’s important to have a garden when you live in the city,” Napier said. “It gets you off the grid and a lot of wonderful Philadelphia birds come through.”

To her, gardening has become a way of connection, not only with her Grays Ferry neighbors but also with the animal life of Philly. Groundhogs and raccoons have become regular visitors in her backyard.

“It makes me feel like I’m still self-sufficient,” she said. “It gives me peace and my thoughts can go someplace else.”