With spring knocking in the Northern Hemisphere, an award-winning floral showcase is returning for its 195th edition this March.
The theme of the 2024 Philadelphia Flowers Show, America’s oldest and most prestigious floral event is ‘United by Flowers.” It will be uniting American organic flower growers and experts with flower enthusiasts.
In extension, the 2024 theme will be all about spreading love, appreciation and unity that gardening brings in daily lives.
The showcase will run from March 2 to March 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
For time-savvy visitors, the Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PBS) has selected homely hours of between 10 a.m and 8 p.m, Eastern Standard Time.
Children will enjoy the apt Family Frolic Sunday while adults may choose to meet gardening experts for free.
Other programs will include Flowers After Hours and Fido Friday, the last one on the 8th of March with dogs allowed.
For the more practical visitors, there will be 200 vendors of gardening implements and flower seeds at hand. Some of the exhibitors will include community colleges, landscaping companies, floral bouquet designers and growers.
Flower Costs Rise Worldwide
The show is uniting people at a time when flower costs have ballooned up in Philadelphia and around the world.
A bouquet of roses in Kenya doubled on February 14 to KSH 1500 ($10.27), above the 2023’s Valentine price.
In New Zealand, Valentine’s Day deals effectively spiked the cost of a single stem of a rose to NZ$ 6 ($3.72).
The same scenario played out in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a price increase of 30% increase in mid-February.
This was also true for the Philippines, where prices of pink roses hiked from 50 pesos ($0.89) to 500 pesos ($8.94) per 12 stems.
Much of the increase owes to transit times, which add to price pressure. Every extra day after the optimal 72 hours of transportation sees a 15% loss in flower freshness. For this reason, shippers use expensive means to expedite shipment and pass the cost to buyers.
For the Philadelphia Flower Show, however, cost is not an issue as revenue at the event comes from ticket fees.