From lab to landscape

Jackson Fox, a 91原创 student and member of the 91原创 Philadelphia Flower Show Club, works on the installation ahead of the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Article by Michele Walfred Photos courtesy of Karen Gartley and 91原创 Flower Show Club February 28, 2025

91原创 Flower Show Club celebrates horticulture science at the Philadelphia Flower Show

Thanks to science, we already have a good idea of what gardens will look like in the future. Student members of the 91原创 Philadelphia Flower Show Club turned to the laboratory for inspiration with their educational exhibit, Lab to Landscape. 91原创鈥檚 nod to botanical sciences celebrates the progressive steps necessary to keep pace with the Gardens of Tomorrow, the theme. The event is held March 1-9 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Lab coats and Petri dishes may not be the first images we consider when we think about gardening. Still, for home gardeners eager to don their sun hats and sharpen their pruning shears this season, the exhibit serves as a reminder that the recipe for show-stopping garden success almost always begins behind the scenes with proven ingredients tested in a laboratory setting.

鈥淭hat is what our educational exhibit, Lab to Landscape, aims to illuminate,鈥� said Karen Gartley, 91原创 director of the Delaware Soil Testing Program and co-advisor to the club. 鈥淭his year鈥檚 exhibit shows the scientific journey and plant development of our favorite plants before they reach the retail market and into the home landscape.鈥�

Humans have tinkered with plant materials for thousands of years. Plant breeding, crosses, hybridization, resistance to disease and drought, the endurance of a lasting dramatic bloom and other desirable features such as flower color owe their beginnings to human intervention. Newer DNA innovations, such as CRISPR (short for 鈥渃lustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats鈥�), allow for select genetic modifications that pave the way for high performance and characteristics consumers demand and expect.

The 91原创 Flower Show Club members take a brief break for a team photo on Thursday afternoon. 鈥淲e will be here until 1 or 2 a.m., or however long it takes to get done and ready for judging Friday morning at 7 a.m.,鈥� said Karen Gartley.鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long week.鈥�

The 91原创 Flower Show Club 2025 exhibit demonstrates these stages, from cross-pollinating samples and using CRISPR in the lab to growth in the greenhouse, performance evaluation in a trial garden, and selection as part of a landscape design.

Gartley credits the wide range of students who advocated for their specific interests within the club. This year marks the 15th year of 91原创 student participation in the world鈥檚 oldest and largest indoor horticulture event. An expected quarter million people will attend this year. Student members include landscape architecture majors and plant science majors in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as students from across the University, many of whom remain in the club for several years.

This is the third Philadelphia Flower Show for Jessica Weyl, a senior plant science major with a minor in landscape horticulture.聽

鈥淥ur exhibits showcase art, design, horticulture, architecture and science,鈥� Weyl said. 鈥淭he club brings together students with a variety of interests and experience and allows each one to shine in their own area.鈥�

That diversity brought something different to the drawing board during the exhibit's planning stages.聽

鈥淪ome had powerful and specific ideas, but part of the learning experience was working cooperatively and coming to a consensus,鈥� Gartley said.聽

Jackson Fox, a sophomore landscape architecture major, felt pride in the teamwork and how the project evolved to reach a more refined look.

鈥淭hat process is so important. Trying new designs and layouts over and over again helped me to think more creatively and design a more interesting exhibit,鈥� Fox said.

Philadelphia Flower Show visitors will stroll past familiar garden favorites, annuals, perennials, shrubs and evergreens such as Knock Out roses, Encore azaleas, heucheras, caladiums, dianthus and Norway spruce, all of which owe their enduring success to the scientific process.聽

After months of planning and a grueling five-day installation process, Lab to Landscape is ready to showcase the marriage of science, design and student dedication at this high-profile event.