Forget what a certain groundhog predicted. In the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Greenhouse Education and Research Complex at Temple Ambler, spring is already here.
Think of it as a bit of horticultural slight-of-hand. Benjamin Snyder, Manager of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Greenhouse Education and Research Complex at Temple Ambler, is guiding Horticulture students Jane Lally and Luke Natale, Landscape Architecture senior Owen Lambert and Brianna Bee, who is completing the Horticultural Therapy Certificate Program, in making conditions in the Greenhouse and nearby Hoop House just right to make 1,269 individual plants representing 65 different taxa think it is the perfect time to bloom.
Their dedication to caring for their charges in an essential part of the preparation for, and themes presented in, Temple’s 2025 Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit, Reflections on Regeneration: An Artful Response to Our Changing Environment, which will be will be presented at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Flower Show from Saturday, March 1, through Sunday, March 9 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
“When visitors look at our exhibit, we want to showcase a few things, one of them being highlighting native plants. By and large we highlight the use of native plants in their landscapes as well as edible plants that you can grow without using pesticides,” said Snyder, who is also a Temple Horticulture program alumnus. “All of the plants growing in our Greenhouse are sustainably grown — they are watered with rainwater from our underground cisterns, and we have not sprayed pesticides in this space in five years. We’re using bio-controls and natural enemies. Our visitors will be able to see that yes, you can grow these plants in a sustainable manner.”
From a plant perspective, “I think the goal of the exhibit is really to express the beauty of the variety of different plants that we can show off to the world,” said Natale.
“We have lots of different plants from many different regions and we just want to show how interesting and unique these plants can be,” he said. “Getting the plants ready for the Flower Show takes a lot of planning ahead of time. It consists of a lot of watering, fertilizing and pruning to make sure everything looks good. Generally, we want to make sure we keep the plants on the right track so that they bloom on schedule and in time for the show. “
When selecting plants to reflect the Flower Show theme this year — Gardens of Tomorrow — and Temple’s exhibit theme, “we looked specifically at the different areas within our exhibit to determine what would best exemplify the goals of the presentation,” said Snyder.
“For example, we have a small wetland area so we looked for native species that would incorporate those habitats, like Juncus, Equisetum and similar species,” he said. “There is also another corner that is more edible focus, so we looked a wild food plants like native berries and service berries, as well as cultivated annuals and perennials.”
Temple continues to be one of only a handful of exhibitors that force their own plants for their exhibits, Snyder said.
“By growing all our own plants on site in the Greenhouse it’s given us more flexibility in the number and types of species that we can grow. For example, we’re able to have more unconventional species that most wholesale growers wouldn’t be growing,” he said. “It also gives our students a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience forcing plants and being involved in plant production.”
According to Snyder, the four main aspects that go into forcing a plant to bloom out of season are length of cold treatment, heat, light and humidity.
"We need to trick plants into thinking that winter is over and spring is here. To do that, they need to have an early winter," he said. "We accomplish this through vernalization, which takes place in our on-campus coolers. Each plant is then brought out of the coolers and into our growing zones according to the schedule. For certain plants, extra heat, light, and/or humidity is needed — this is facilitated by heat mats, grow lights and forcing tents."
Preparing the Plants for the Big Show
According to Lally, the students have been focused on “weeding, pruning, basically everything we can do to make the plants look their best.”
“Getting the plants and trees to bloom for the show involves the forcing techniques we’ve been able to learn during this process — you don’t want them to bloom too early or too late. We have mist tents for some of the plants and trees to leaf out or flower out, depending on how the Landscape Architecture students have planned to present those plants within their design,” she said. “This hands-on experience is definitely a benefit to me as a student — I tend to learn more in general when it involves hands-on learning. Ben (Snyder) especially is great about that because as I’m working hands-on he will ask me questions, which encourages critical thinking — why are we doing this, why does this need to happen.”
Each year provides the opportunity to try new plants and plant combinations, Snyder said.
“In terms of plants, there are a few new plant species that we are growing this year. This year, some of our new species include a type of cherry tree, Prunus virginiana ‘Canada Red,’ a native species that produces small, edible fruit that you can use to make jams, jellies and preserves,” he said. “One of the other new plants we’re trying this year is a Brown-eyed Susan, a Rudbeckia; it’s a bloom we’ve never tried before. It blooms in early summer so we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to make it work but so far it has flower buds on it and we’re confident that they should be open for the show.”
One returning favorite for the 2025 exhibit, according to Snyder, is particularly pungent plant —skunk cabbage!
“We already have three of them in our Greenhouse and we’re bringing some additional plants into the Greenhouse in batches — that way we will have some in leaf, full flower and opening bud during the show. We’re also doing some other very cool wetland species that you might not see in other places,” he said. “We always like to have a few reliable favorites that we know will fit within the scheme of our exhibit and we know are going to do what they are supposed to and be ready for the show.”
Hands-on Experience in the Greenhouse
The students working on the Flower Show plants and trees, “have the opportunity to either do directed studies or explore volunteer opportunities to assist on the plant side of the Flower Show,” Snyder said.
“For our students, they get practical experience working with the plants in the Greenhouse. This gives them the opportunity to plan ahead, try plant production and work on timing because we are trying to get these plants to either foliate or leaf out or flower for a very short window of time,” he said. “There is a lot of planning that goes into that and a lot of forethought. They have to be able to react to how plants are changing. It also gives them hands-on experience using our Greenhouse controls, trying to manipulate plants with regard to light and temperature.”
According to Briana Bee, her role in the Flower Show process “is to really make sure that the plants are healthy.”
“I’m focusing specifically on pest and disease management, so keeping the plants healthy, managing any pest or disease pressure and getting the plants up to their healthiest standards and aesthetics before we put the exhibit together,” she said. “I think I have a unique perspective on this project because I’m tying together horticulture with horticultural therapy and the exhibit is really about rejuvenation and tuning into rejuvenation through nature. All of the themes and different aspects of the exhibit this year truly tie into horticultural therapy and how we need nature to survive. You’ll see when you visit the exhibit all of the ways that you can touchpoint nature and engage with plants from either going for a walk in the woods or maybe joining a community garden.”
Lambert is combining his Landscape Architecture experience with helping to prepare the plants and trees for the Flower Show.
“Temple’s Landscape Architecture program is unique in that is has a strong focus on sustainability and hands-on learning. These experiences help you understand more of the process of landscape architecture and helps you determine where you want to focus in your career,” he said. “I decided I wanted to work with plants — I started as an Ambler Arboretum student gardener and now I’m a Greenhouse student worker — because I wanted to gain a better understanding of the plants and how they contribute to the world around me. The Landscape Architecture program is so well integrated with the Horticulture program that what you are learning from these hands-on experiences really complements what we’ve learned in the classroom.”
When visitors are exploring Temple’s exhibit, Snyder said, “one of the things we hope they take away with them is a greater appreciation for plants.”
“We hope we can spark their interest in how they can incorporate plants into their own lives, whether that be in a small, containerized water garden, an organic food production garden or just appreciating them in parks and wildlife areas, seeing how plants provide food for wildlife,” he said. “We want them to appreciate the vast diversity of species out there. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the conversation and that they go on to explore further on their own.”
For more information about the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Landscape Architecture and Horticulture programs, visit https://tyler.temple.edu/programs/landscape-architecture-horticulture.
For more information about Temple University Ambler, visit https://ambler.temple.edu.