For years, I have heard about the Philadelphia Flower Show from Friends of Acadia members and certainly had put it on my bucket list to attend in the future. But it wasn’t until the Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS), the host of the event, and the National Park Foundation teamed up to
Shawn Keeley, Senior Development Office at Friends of Acadia, had arranged for an early morning private tour with welcoming remarks from FOA’s president David MacDonald and the society’s new president Matt Rader. Even with expert docent Susan Yeager leading my tour group, I was a bit overwhelmed by the vastness of the show and the hundreds of exhibits.
As I scrolled through my photos of last Monday’s adventure at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, I realized that the flower show not only exhibits beautiful landscapes and flower specimens but serves as a place of art and wonder.
And if I was presenting awards? My award for bravest, best told story would go to Stoney Bank Nurseries for their “Yellowstone After the Fire” exhibit. In a giant convention center full of beauty, the designers chose to showcase the real life destruction of the fires of the 80s including burnt trees and stumps along with the rebirth of the landscape with seedlings of early successional plants and Yellowstone’s iconic wolf population, a great success story of its own.
The 2016 Flower Show was a fantastic celebration of our national parks during this milestone year. Visit www.acadiacentennial2016.org to learn about Acadia’s Centennial, our many partners, and a calendar of events for the year.


Lisa Horsch Clark, seen here with flower show friends, has been the Director of Development at Friends of Acadia since 2005.