Flower Show Kicks Off Botanical Garden's Golden Anniversary

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is throwing itself a year-long well-deserved 50th anniversary party. The fun and festivities began with a three-day flower show Feb. 20–22. If the rest of the year's events at Atlanta's most visited cultural institution are as spectacular as this first one, and no doubt they will be, hold your breath! What a year it's going to be at ABG!

Next up is Atlanta SUPER Blooms, during which the garden will light up with more than 200,000 spring bulbs, including tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, double the number of bulbs planted for previous Atlanta Blooms events. Visitors will see the highlight of the extravaganza on the Great Lawn in front of the Fuqua Conservatory. Right after Garden Lights, Holiday Lights ended it was dug up and planted with beds of more than 140,000 bulbs from Holland. Then it will be on to "Niki in the Garden" from May until the end of September, a cameo of colorful outdoor mosaic sculptures featuring sinuous curves and massive forms by Niki de Saint Phalle. Her 2006 exhibition drew large numbers of visitors. And at the end of the year don't be surprised if you see new twists to Scarecrows in the Garden and Garden Lights, Holiday Lights.

But, back to the biennial flower show, appropriately named Heirlooms, where something was hiding in plain sight signaling that this year's show was indeed something special and worthy of the garden's Golden Jubilee kickoff. That something were awards from the The Garden Club of America (GCA). The GCA awards are special because they indicate this year's show was sanctioned by the GCA. In fact, this year the ABG show became one of only four flower shows hosted by a group that is not a GCA member to be sanctioned by the distinguished 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The other three non-GCA sanctioned flower shows are the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's largest and longest-running horticultural event, the Newport Flower Show, held at an opulent Gilded Age mansion overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and the New England Fall Flower Show, which this year will host its 140th show.

The GCA sanction is important because it allows the ABG show to present some prestigious GCA awards, which elevate the show's profile both nationally and internationally. The higher profile makes the show an important destination for the country's garden enthusiasts, lovers of the visual arts, floral designers, flower show judges and exhibitors alike. The GCA, founded more than 100 years ago, awarded the biennial ABG show the status of Sanctioned non-GCA Major Flower Show in 2024. This is the garden's first flower show since receiving the designation.

Judges awarded five GCA Certificates of Excellence at this year's show, a testament to the quality of the exhibits and a key garden mission. Three of those showcased Atlanta garden clubs and their members while a fourth highlighted the important work of the botanical garden's Southeastern Center for Conservation (SECC). The center actively protects endangered native orchids and boosts populations in habitats such as Southeastern marsh bogs. The certificates were:

• The GCA Certificate of Excellence in Floral Design: Awarded to Roberta DuBeshter (Rochester Garden Club – GCA – Rochester, NY) and Hilary Harrison (Pine Tree Garden Club – NON-GCA – Atlanta). Notably, the exhibitors were a mother/daughter team.
• The GCA Certificate of Excellence in Horticulture: Awarded to Anna Miller (Brookwood Hills Garden Club – NON GCA – Atlanta).
• The GCA Certificate of Excellence in Photography: Awarded to Annitsa Philliou (Garden Club of Englewood – GCA – Englewood, NJ).
• The GCA Certificate of Excellence in Botanical Arts: Awarded to Caroline Tucker and Dina Woodruff (Cherokee Garden Club – GCA – Atlanta).
• The GCA Certificate of Excellence in Conservation: Awarded to the Atlanta Botanical Garden for its educational orchid exhibit.

Remarkably, first-time exhibitors won two of the GCA Certificates of Excellence.

One of those exhibitors was Hilary Harrison of the Pine Tree Garden Club, the daughter of the mother-daughter team that won the award for Excellence in Floral Design. Luckily for Harrison, her mother, Roberta DuBeshter, was able to offer expert advice for the exhibit. DuBeshter is a GCA judge, a member of the Rochester (NY) Garden Club (and now a resident of Florida) and, as Harrison puts it, "travels internationally for floral design."

"This is my first flower show ever!," says Harrison. "It was incredibly fun to do this. It's been a couple years in the making." Harrison and her mother got the idea to enter after Harrison volunteered at the garden's 2024 show. It's also been years in the making, going back to her childhood in Rochester. "I had my fair share of gardening throughout my life. Every Sunday, our family activity was four hours of yard work and gardening."

With that background, mother and daughter used Zoom calls to map out ideas for a design for the exhibit. After that, they had a handyman help them build the support structure. Then disaster struck. The night before the show the structure broke. Needing emergency repairs, they headed to an Ace Hardware where they were lucky enough to find someone willing to put it back together. Taking a collective deep breath and resuming work against the clock over parts of two days because installation is timed, they wired oasis and flowers from wholesalers to the structure, finishing at the "zero hour" of 8:45 a.m. on the day of judging.

As they were leaving the exhibit area, Harrison recalls her mother saying, "Oh, it's too much plant material. I feel like we're going to get third place." A while later, they were out shopping and her mother got a text from a friend and started tearing up at what she was hearing. They had won — big time! "We both started tearing up, and it was just really a crazy, crazy moment," says Harrison.

If show visitors are lucky, there will be more exhibits from the mother-daughter team and more special moments for Harrison and her mother. "I would love to enter again," says Harrison, adding that she told her mother, "I could do this again with you."

The other first-time exhibitor was Anna Miller of the Brookwood Hills Garden Club in Atlanta, who won a Certificate of Excellence in Horticulture for a stunning terrarium. There is an inspirational story behind how Miller and the Brookwood Hills Club entered the show that club President Dabney Hollis told in a post-show newsletter. The story, I believe, goes to the heart of one of the successes of the show for its host and participants.

The club, Hollis wrote, had not participated in a show of this magnitude in a long time, if ever. She enthusiastically encouraged club members to enter, saying "We can do this." They agreed, and embraced the challenge of exhibiting since they hadn't exhibited before. Uncertainty fueled their determination to succeed. Members studied show guidelines and the schedule and sought advice from gardening friends who were flower show veterans.

In Hollis' words, something special was taking root. "Conversations blossomed among members as we explored what thrives in winter in a Brookwood Hills garden. On a crisp January day, a group of us walked the neighborhood with a kind friend from the Cherokee Garden Club, discovering the hidden gems of the winter landscape. Preparing for the show sparked so much curiosity, collaboration, and fun."

The club pre-registered in two horticulture classes, Miller's terrarium and a 70-plus-year-old hand-turned wooden bowl crafted from a tree felled from the original canopy of Woodcrest Avenue in the neighborhood. It was filled with winter treasures from a member's outdoor garden, including Lady Clare Camellia, Variegated Cleyera, Paperbush and Tea Olive. The entry didn't win a ribbon, but members were filled with pride in watching show visitors stop and admire it.

Miller's entry took home a blue ribbon in its category in addition to one of the show's major prizes. She worked on it for weeks on her dining room table. Her composition, displayed in an antique liquor dispenser, featured a miniature landscape with a winding stone path sourced from the neighborhood's Clear Creek, a collection of ferns, Baby Tears and a beautiful miniature orchid. One nit: The orchid was mislabeled as Phalaenopsis lobbiii. The true Phalaenopsis lobbii is a species native to mountain forests from eastern Himalaya to Indochina and has a different shape and color pattern. Congratulations to Anna for a stunning display that was truly a living work of botanical art!

More than that, congratulations to all club members. As Hollis wrote in the newsletter, the entire club won by participating, not only with entries but as show volunteers. "Many members caught the flower show bug that day," she wrote. "Participating reminded us of what a garden club does best — learn together, share generously, and grow in both knowledge and friendship."

Well said, Dabney. I hope your words inspire more clubs to enter the show in two years. And I can hardly wait to see your club's next round of entries!

Walls of orchids — Paphiopedilums, Phalaenopsis, Dendrobiums and others — welcomed visitors to the cool- and warm-growing orchid display houses in the Fuqua Orchid Center. The displays, outside the propagation labs of the Southeastern Center for Conservation, were and are (you can still see these as part of the garden's Orchid Daze event) jaw-dropping in their scope and color. They invited visitors to stop, oooh and ahhh and reflect that one of the garden's important missions is native orchid species conservation.

Throughout the show, there was much to stop, admire and from which to take gardening inspiration. Here are some of my favorite plants and flowers that were on display.

Camellia japonica 'Tricolor'. This entry by Laura Draper of the Peachtree Garden Club did more than show off its semi-double, candy-striped flowers, it demonstrated the resiliency of nature and determination of gardeners. The annual Camellia show at the garden was cancelled several weeks ago when temperatures plunged into the mid-teens before the show and blooms in the Atlanta area turned a ghastly shade of brown. In the weeks before the flower show, temperatures rose by 60F into the 70sF and the camellias rebounded. Camellias are evergreen shrubs that prefer partial shade, essentially defined as morning sun with afternoon shade that protects them from the hot afternoon sun of Southern summers. 'Tricolor' grows 6–10 feet tall and 4–6 feet wide, features glossy dark green foliage and thrives in USDA Zones 7–9.

Iron cross begonia (Begonia masoniana). I am also inspired by plant-loving people who grow indoor plants to an impressive specimen size. This iron cross begonia stopped me in my tracks. Apparently it did the same for the judges. It was awarded a Best in Show ribbon for Horticulture. It is the type of plant that is grown not for its greenish/white flowers but for its bold crinkly foliage with a dark chocolate center that resembles the Iron Cross used on shields during the Crusades. It prefers bright but indirect or filtered light (a southern, eastern or western window), a moisture retentive potting mix kept evenly moist when it is in active growth and high humidity. The latter, I believe, is one of the biggest challenges to overcome when growing plants indoors. Most US houses tend to have low humidity. The awarded plant was grown in a greenhouse, according to the entry form. A way to increase humidity around houseplants is to set their pots on gravel trays. If you do this, just be sure the pot does not touch the water or it will wick water up into the potting mix, increasing the chances of root rot. Iron cross begonia is native to China and Vietnam where it grows as a ground cover in the leaf litter of humid and shaded mountain forests. In cultivation, it cannot survive temperatures below 75F.

Himalayan Begonia (Begonia barosma). I also have a weak spot for what I call collector plants. I loosely define these as plants that are either rare in cultivation or that are strikingly unusual because of their foliage, flowers or both. Collector plants, in my experience, usually don't turn up on the benches of plant nurseries. Instead, you have to go to flower shows to find them. As striking as the iron cross Begonia is, for example, it is readily available in commerce. The Himalayan Begonia, which was also grown in a greenhouse, probably not so much. In fact, various sources I found describe it as a newly discovered species growing on the Sino-Vietnamese border. Considering its small population size, narrow distribution, and disturbance by human activities, its conservation status is categorized as "vulnerable," according to one description of it. Observing this plant on the show table was a reminder of how fragile our natural world is and of the importance of preserving what remains of it.

Paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha). While paper bush is available in commerce, seeing it on the show tables reminded me that I think of it as a collector plant because, in my mind, it is probably not for everybody. For one thing, it grows into a large shrub. Also, the flowers tend to be pendent — in most cases, you almost have to lay on your back to see them. Occasionally, they present themselves at a pleasing angle. However they face, they are strongly and pleasingly fragrant. I have five plants in my garden all strategically located along paths where sometimes the fragrance still takes me by surprise, and I wonder, "What am I smelling?" Then I remember that "Oh, yes! It's the paper bush." It's fun to watch visitors stop as they approach the front door, sniff the air and ask me what they are smelling. I smile and point toward a variety planted nearby called 'Snow Cream'. This is the largest variety I have found in commerce. It's available from Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC.

Be aware that these plants can become quite large. In my experience with plants in my garden, they can be grown in a wide range of light — from full sunlight to morning sun and afternoon filtered light to afternoon shade. There is one (maybe more!) at the botanical garden. On your next visit, look for it on the left soon after leaving the entrance foyer. The plant gets its common name from its use to produce paper. I have read that in Japan paper produced from the plant is used to make banknotes.

You'll have to wait two years for the next flower show. But don't wait that long to visit what I call Atlanta's Happy Place. Everyone I see walking through the garden, no matter the season, is smiling. For good reason.

GCA honors Mary Pat Matheson. The GCA has selected Atlanta Botanical Garden President and CEO Mary Pat Matheson to receive the 2026 Amy Connell Collier Montague Medal, which is awarded to individuals who demonstrate outstanding civic achievement and visionary leadership in the field of public garden management. It is one of the highest honors GCA bestows upon individuals for distinguished achievements. Matheson has led the garden for 24 years, almost half of the time since it was founded in 1976. She, more than anyone else among the garden's leaders, has fulfilled the belief of the founders that a great city needs a great botanical garden. The next time you are in the garden, that's worth remembering and taking a moment to pause and say, "Thank you, Mary Pat." The Peachtree Garden Club nominated her for the award. It will be presented at the GCA's spring meeting in April in New York City.

Next up: Atlanta SUPER Blooms. More than 200,000 bulbs have emerged and are waiting for warmer weather to begin blooming for the next event in the Atlanta Botanical Garden's yearlong 50th Anniversary celebration. You can check the progress of the bloom cycle from the main display area on the Great Lawn in front of the Fuqua Conservatory from a live camera feed on the garden's website. Peak bloom is expected in mid-March. The effect is expected to be an immersive experience in blooms like none other the garden has undertaken, according to the garden's website. After the blooms fade, the lawn will be re-sodded — its first turf renovation in more than 10 years.