By Charlie Roller/ Full360 Reporter
Fragrances that consume the senses, visually stunning displays that fill the supersized Philadelphia Convention Center and throngs of individuals who share a passion and love of gardening and horticulture can only mean one thing; The 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show is in full bloom and is celebrating its 195th anniversary of being the largest and oldest flower show in the nation.
This year’s theme of the show is “United in Flowers.” The Philadelphia Horticulture Society hosts this event that brings tens of thousands of visitors to Philadelphia each year. Their desire was to select a theme that “celebrates the unique and colorful community born out of our shared love and appreciation of gardening and the connections and impact they create on our everyday lives.”
As visitors enter the show, they are immediately struck by the vibrant colors and fascinating concept of edges presented in the Entrance Garden. This area has its own theme of “Edges and Reflections” which aligns to the overall show theme as different elements of the display are united by a focus on edges where two distinct spaces meet and merge. Visitors marvel at the beautiful reflections shining back at them as they take time to pause and reflect in the ponds that surround the gorgeous flower display.
The show brings together renowned exhibitors from around the world who look to showcase their talents and drum up economic success at this show. However, the show is also a platform for schools such as Delaware Valley University to unveil their skillful and important horticultural work.
While at the Delaware Valley University stand at the flower show this year, Jerry Fritz, an alumni of DelVal, had some words about how the exhibit goes with the theme of united in bloom, “This year the students chose Vegetables and Edibles, everything in the booth is edible including the grass, which looks like grass but it’s a rye that you can eat…But everything here was prepared by Delaware Valley students, Michael Fleischacker and Howard Eyre are the advisors and they do a great job, and you might not be aware, however I will let you know, this is our 75th year doing an exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show.”
Delaware Valley University’s exhibit in the show is titled, “Lettuce Turnip the Beet: The Gritty Value of Plants.” The creators of the display hope visitors will be impacted by the idea that plants are instrumental for the functioning of our world and in line with the overall theme of this year’s show, Delaware Valley University students and staff impart important knowledge on plants’ impact on personal health and well-being.
When asked about the setup process for the exhibit, Fritz said, “The students are involved in every aspect. They come up with the design, they present it to their advisor, the department chair Dr. Jackie Ricotta approves it or says, ‘tweak it’… They make everything up as much as possible back on campus and then they bring it down, they have the week before to set it up, all the plant material is forced and grown in our greenhouses by our grower and the students. Then, they bring everything down, they’ll put it all together, they’ll plant it and then when we have what’s called Tear Down, the students, and volunteers take everything back, some of the pants get donated to Philadelphia, some go back on campus and then in another 4 months they start thinking and designing for next year.”
Aggie students and staff can be so proud of their accomplishment as the Philadelphia Horticultural Society awarded Delaware Valley University’s exhibit with the Sustainability Award for the educational exhibit demonstrating the best use of sustainable gardening practices to the public. Each day students and staff witness first-hand the focus on sustainability on the beautiful Doylestown Campus, but now that impactful priority is being recognized globally.
The exhibit this year won two awards this year: The silver medal in the PHS award and winner of the PHS sustainability award. Fritz said, “I know that over the last 75 years we have gotten number 1 many, many times. I think this years is great. People are so into edibles and the students did a great job.”
When asked about how the exhibit brings people together, another volunteer at the exhibit Tanya Letourneau who works in the psych department at DelVal, said: “One of the beautiful things about being involved in the flower show isn’t that it’s just one department, even though obviously they are driving it and running it, it’s so inclusive to the rest of the community, I’m in the psych department, I’m excited to volunteer you know it really brings us all together”
Events such as the Philadelphia Flower Show provide a forum for Delaware Valley University to solidify its place as an institution of experiential learning focused on providing students with impactful experiences that will help them make a lasting impact on both local communities and the global world. The Aggies once again are leading the way in educating the world about the value of plants in offering nutritious foods, medicines, ecosystem biodiversity, economic savings and beauty.