Pennsylvania Horticultural Society - Philadelphia Flower Show

Yes, those really are crackers, specifically "Sea Toast" crackers formerly made by Keebler. For a 1961 composition depicting a feature of the New England seacoast, Sarah Groome chose to do an interpretation of fish chowder. She used a background and floor of sea toast, a cardboard fish, covered in aluminum and completed the composition with onions, potatoes, parsley and a soup tureen. Just as she finished installing this niche, an impatient show visitor pushed her aside, with camera in hand to shoot a photograph of the exhibit. Seeing it through her camera lens, the visitor shrieked "Jesus Christ, them's cookies!" Sarah Groome was photographed above at her niche

By the 1960s flower show attendance was falling. This factor, combined with the city's decision to tear down the Commercial Museum to build a new Civic Center convinced the show managers Philadelphia Flower Show Incorporated to suspend shows until the new Civic Center was completed -- a three year hiatus. Under the strong leadership of Ernesta Ballard, PHS decided to produce the 1965 show without the participation of Philadelphia Flower Show Incorporated. This pivotal show was staged in the Armory of the First City Troop at 23rd and Ranstead Streets. Thirty thousand people attended and paid $1.00 for admission. Even though the show's profit was a very slim $893, it was enough to convince PHS leadership to produce the 1966 show.

The woman in the flowered evening dress is Noel Clark, wife of Pennsylvania Senator Joseph Clark. She has just cut the ribbon that opened the 1966 show held in the basement of the Civic Center. At a charge of $25 per person, this first Preview Dinner drew 600 guests. This gala preview to the flower show continues today to be a much anticipated annual social event. It is a fund raiser in support of PHS's community greening programs.

Crowd shot of 1966 Flower Show, held in the basement of the Philadelphia Civic Center.

From 1966 through 1997, PHS produced a Flower Show program. The first program was 57 pages with black and white photography; the last one was a 109-page souvenir edition in full color. Both had the all-important floor plan, but later programs included in-depth articles on the making of the central feature, as well as detailed descriptions of major exhibitors' displays. Today, detailed programs are produced by local newspapers.

For the 1967 Philadelphia Flower Show competitive class called "Timeless Treasures," participants were invited to create floral arrangements using pieces borrowed from local museums. The winner in this class was Mrs. F. Otto Haas of the Weeders, and Mrs. W. W. Keen Butcher, of the Four Counties Garden Club who worked together on this exhibit. They borrowed an 8th Century Tang Dynasty glazed terracotta burial figurine from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

1967 "Timeless Treasures" entry (Class 520, entry 3) by Mrs. David H. W. Dohan includes a teakwood copy of Venus Genetrix, or Aphrodite and the Golden Apple. Marble original by Callimachus is in the Louvre, Paris.

In 1969 PHS president George Clark, left, congratulated Lee M. Raden for what may have been the first award Lee won over a 40-year involvement with the Philadelphia Flower Show. Lee Morris Raden was a legendary exhibitor who won numerous awards in the competitive classes, particularly for his alpine plant entries. He played many roles at the show, serving as a judge, a chair of horticulture and as a liaison between show management and exhibitors; his efforts helped to grow the show both in size and quality by encouraging many gardeners to participate, to learn, and to up their horticultural game. Friendly, gregarious, with an outsized personality, Lee Raden inspired young and old, beginners or old hands to garden and exhibit; in 1998, Lee won PHS's Distinguished Achievement Award for his life-time role as a "horticultural pied piper for his enthusiasm, dedication and good humor."

Teleflora flower arranging demonstration is set to begin at the 1969 Flower Show.

Anne Coste puts final touches on her entry for the 1970 Flower Show