Hundreds of thousands of visitors will descend on Philadelphia this week, even as most Penn students are headed out.
An expected 260,000 people from around the world will attend the 177th annual Philadelphia Flower Show, themed "Enchanted Spring: A Tribute to Mother Nature," will run from March 5 to March 12.
The show is produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and is the largest indoor flower show in the world and the oldest flower show in the nation.
One attractions of this year's show that is sure to rise above the canopy of floral displays will be the largest plant sculpture in the world, Natura, a depiction of a mythical goddess of nature. The sculpture measures 25 feet in height and 60 feet in length and features a cascading waterfall.
While the show never fails to draw expert horticulturists who are long time veterans of the gardening scene, it also welcomes amateur green thumbs.
"Half of the people who come to the show come here to learn," said Steven Maurer, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
Maurer encourages students to come to the show regardless of whether or not they've had prior experience with horticulture.
"Don't be afraid to try it," said Maurer, who added that he "didn't think [he] was a gardener" until he became involved with the show, but has since come to enjoy it greatly.
This year, the show will transform 33 acres of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, with 10 acres devoted entirely to exhibitions. Nearly 3,000 amateur-division entries are on display, and they will be examined by 200 judges drawn from across the United States.
In addition to the past crowd favorites such as the so-called "horticourt," where individual competitors display their finest artistic and horticultural works, visitors can spend the day enjoying free hourly lectures and demonstrations, afternoon tea and daily culinary presentations given by the Philadelphia Culinary School and featuring celebrity chefs.
For those get more pleasure out of shopping than perfecting their floral displays, the show will host more than 140 vendors from around the world, offering floral-inspired furniture, food, artwork, garden supplies and flowers and plants.
Proceeds from the show help support Philadelphia Green, the largest urban greening program in the nation, which is dedicated to the care and development of the city's green spaces.
