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2:20 PM / Saturday April 19, 2025

23 Mar 2025

Reflecting on lessons about time, tending and transformation

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March 23, 2025 Category: Home and Garden Posted by:

The University of Delaware’s “Lab to Landscape” exhibit (Photo/Becca Mathias)

The main takeaway from this year’s PHS Philadelphia Flower Show is to take what was conveyed about sustainability seriously and build upon it.

By Amy V. Simmons

Many were taken off guard when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people outdoors, not only for commerce, but also for annual gatherings.

Many others forged a new connection with nature (or a reconnection), discovering how essential this connection was to their overall well-being.

Noticing long-overlooked neighborhood trees, landscapes, animals and insects was healing and brought a sense of balance to a chaotic world.

One of the activities that grew in popularity then was amateur gardening. Preparing soil, planting, watering, harvesting and sharing with others took on an almost spiritual significance as people sought to maintain connections that were not electronic.

Olin/Remake Glass partnered on an exhibit entitled “Don’t Call it Dirt, Don’t Call it Trash” which focused on the transformation of glass, wood-based debris, and food waste into renewable materials that help things to grow. (Photos/Amy V. Simmons)

Today, in the face of new challenges, these practices are becoming less of a hobby, and more of a way of life, where patience is not just a virtue, but a necessity. Cultivating gardens, as well as talent, takes time — and vision.

When Rashawn Scarbo took the time to create a floral arrangement for a friend years ago, she discovered that she not only had talent but fell in love with the flower design process, she said.  Word about her designs spread — Bloom Bold Co., LLC was the end result.

“Friends just began to send me money to recreate [the floral arrangement],” Scarbo recalled. “I bought way too many flowers, made about a dozen bouquets, and sold out in about 15 minutes, just from my personal page. So, people begin to ask, ‘When are you going to have more?’ And I said, ‘I guess I’m launching a floral company.’”

Bloom Bold Co., LLC founder Rashawn Scarbo in front of her award-winning “Matter of Time” exhibit, which used a deconstructed clock in a garden to illustrate the importance of mentoring youth, especially those interested in floral design. (Photo/Amy V. Simmons)

Scarbo, whose previous collaboration was with the Black Girl Florist Collective — a groundbreaking group that exhibited for the first time at the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show several years ago — was amongst those invited back as solo exhibitors this year.

Her entry — entitled “A Matter of Time” — earned the PHS Bronze Medal, awarded to Show exhibitors “based on quality of design, horticultural excellence, plantsmanship, construction and craftsmanship, visitor experience, and educational value (for Educational exhibits).”

When she was invited to participate in this year’s Show, Scarbo leaned upon her faith for inspiration, seeking God’s guidance in determining what her theme should be. The result was “A Matter of Time.”

“One thing about me is that I’m very passionate about [the] youth, and about introducing as many of them as possible to the field of floral design — I’m also passionate about education,” Scarbo said. “So, for me, God gave me an idea that combined both of those worlds — both my love for floral and creativity and color, but also my love for the youth in the next generation.”

This year’s show theme was “Gardens of Tomorrow,” and her inspired idea fit perfectly.

“When we think about gardens of tomorrow, and when we think about the future of gardening and floral [design], we have to think about who comes next, and what we’re going to do to nurture that,” Scarbo said..”

In addition to promoting conversation about the meaning of time and nurture, Scarbo hoped to inspire others to assist young people in establishing their creative footprint in the world with the exhibit.

A brightly painted rain barrel sits outside of a classroom promoting environmentally sustainable practices in W.B. Saul High School for Agricultural Science’s award-winning “Modularity” exhibit at the 2025 PHS Flower Show. (Photo/Amy V. Simmons)

Spring and summer are some of the busiest times of the year for florists, so Scarbo has a full post-Show schedule, she said.

“I do have a couple of workshops lined up within the coming weeks,” she said. “I also have a couple of corporate events coming up as well.”

While she loves all aspects of her work and where it is taking her, she wants to do more community-focused events, especially in West Philadelphia, where her workspace is located, she said.

Reimagining conventional growing methods and practices

So much about healthy plants and flowers comes down to their tending, which includes monitoring their progress, a lot of trial and error, and scientific observations.

This year’s theme was well suited to the educational exhibits at the Show, since the young people studying these issues will be the most impacted by the future sustainability challenges brought on by climate change and therefore have a vested interest.

Walter B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences has always had the past, present and future in mind at its core, teaching generations of students farming techniques and practices. This year’s exhibit, “Modularity,” highlighted the teaching of urban horticulture innovations and adaptations, with an eye toward the future. Their entry earned them a PHS Silver Medal.

New Flower Show exhibitor, Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School — another Philadelphia school dedicated to sustainability and the world around us — showcased their interpretation of a future classroom that focused on innovations in fish farming and hydroponics, or plants cultivated in water. Their effort earned a PHS Bronze Medal and a Special Achievement Award from the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania, which is presented to “exhibits of unusual excellence in the categories of Conservation, Education, Horticulture, and Creativity.”

Creative ways to incorporate nature into daily life in all settings were at the center of Temple University’s exhibit, “Reflections on Regeneration: An Artful Response to Our Changing Environment” (Photo/PHS)

Temple University’s entry — a collaboration from their students in Ambler and Philadelphia — highlighted the need for communing with nature and beauty wherever we live, utilizing what is all around us, was entitled “Reflections on Regeneration: An Artful Response to Our Changing Environment,” and earned them the PHS Gold Medal, as well as the Alfred M. Campbell Memorial Trophy, and the Bulkeley Medal of The Garden Club of America.

The University of Delaware’s “Lab to Landscape” exhibit featured a lab display and a trial garden of disease-resistant and sustainable plants based on their research, winning them a PHS Flower Show Gold Medal in the educational category, as well as the Chicago Horticultural Society Flower Show Medal, the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association Trophy and a Special Achievement Award from the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania.

The main takeaway from this year’s show? People can, and should, integrate current repurposing and recycling practices into their gardening game as they continue to incorporate the lessons learned during the past five years, because in many ways, the future is now.

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