Fifteen acres of eye-popping floral exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show, June 11 through June 19, will include competitive displays by a few Northwest Philadelphia residents. 

Held outdoors for the second straight year, the nation’s longest-running horticultural exhibition will take place in South Philadelphia’s FDR Park, 1500 Pattison Ave., a riverside site on Philadelphia’s Register of Historic Places.

Jeanette Turnbull, of Chestnut Hill, is one such participant, and has entered the show’s artistic competition. She’s always loved gardening, and when she moved here from Washington, D.C. in the 1970s, the grounds around Turnbull’s home gave her good scope for her skills. 

“I’ve always tried to keep house plants in places that didn’t allow me to do gardening,” said Turnbull, whose favorite plants include amaryllis, Christmas cactus and peonies. “I used to garden from dawn to dusk, indoors and outside, but physical challenges led me to concentrate on indoor plants.”

Turnbull decided to enter the show because of a friend, who stabled horses at the same place where Turnbull kept her own. 

“My friend said, ‘I have to find 200 volunteers for the Flower Show,' Turnbull said. “I said, ‘Now you just need 199, because I’ll do it.’” 

Turnbull had already been a volunteer for several years before working up the nerve to participate in the container competition. “I’m an artistic person, so I went ahead,” she said.

She hinted at what visitors might see in her exhibit this year. “The theme is ‘Just add water' with an emphasis on the attractiveness and versatility of terra cotta.”

A second entrant, Theresa Waldinger of Wyndmoor, said she may as well have soil running through her veins. 

“My mom was ahead of her time,” said Waldinger, a reading specialist raised in Bucks County. “She tore up the backyard and planted greens and herbs. We used to have the best summer salads, all with greens from the garden. I was a tomboy. I liked getting in the dirt, learning to grow food.” 

Waldinger’s father, a carpenter, built trellises and a greenhouse for her mother. “They made a good team,” said Waldinger, whose three sisters also became gardeners, thanks to their mother.

Waldinger’s favorite plants include sage and lamb’s ear, a fuzzy plant sometimes used as a bandage because of its antibacterial and blood-clotting qualities. “I love the silver-gray palette of those plants,” she said. “Then again, I might see a fuchsia that I can’t resist.”

This year, at the urging of her daughter, Joy, a Flower Show veteran, Waldinger has entered the tablescape competition, too. “I’m feeling a little anxious because it’s my first year.”

But Waldinger has surmounted far bigger challenges. She has nearly died three times because of a heart condition. So this year’s Flower Show theme, “In Full Bloom,” with its all-encompassing view of health, holds special appeal for her.

“I don’t drink, don’t smoke,” she said. “I’m super-conscious of healthy practices … In the tablescape, we’re four people competing on a 10-by-10 patch of ground. What you’re trying to do is create a patio scene that draws people in. It revolves around medicinal plants. I want people to feel rejuvenated after visiting the scene.”

Then there’s West Mt. Airy resident Wilhelmina McDaniel Jackson, who has exhibited at the Flower Show since 2014. 

“Gardening has always been part of my life since my grandparents had a working farm, and my parents always had flower and vegetable gardens,” said Jackson, who is originally from Virginia. 

Retired from the pharmaceutical industry, she and husband Jarrett have co-exhibited and won prizes. 

“Exhibits can take hours of planning, making mock-ups, selecting plant and flower materials and planning how to transport flowers to the show,” she said. “It’s a stressful time with many sleepless nights, but once you set up your exhibit and see … fellow exhibitors from past years, the adrenaline flows. It’s an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment.”

Besides its promise to delight the eye and refresh the spirit, this year’s Flower Show features a marketplace, special events and lots of edibles, including cuisine for visitors with dietary restrictions, and botanical-themed cocktails. PHS will host “Early Morning Tours” that look behind the scenes of the show and Flowers After Hours on June 18, 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., which will include music, tastings and “a surprise at the end of evening.”

Proceeds from the show support PHS initiatives including planting thousands of trees, greening neighborhoods, maintaining free public gardens, et al.

For more information and/or tickets, call 855-223-3237, visit phsonline.org or email flowershowfeedback@pennhort.org.