Months of hard work, dedication and teamwork by students, faculty and staff in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture's landscape architecture and horticulture programs has been recognized with a stellar showing at the 2026 Philadelphia Flower Show, which continues at the Pennsylvania Convention Center through Sunday, March 8.
Temple's 2026 Flower Show exhibit, CommonWealth: Nourishing Community and Our Natural World, has been awarded several top honors, including a PHS Gold Medal, awarded to a major exhibit that receives 90–100 points in the “criteria of design, horticulture, plantsmanship and educational value.”
“Our students rose to the challenge and came together to achieve our common goal of honoring the legacy of John and William Bartram without specifically recreating Bartram’s Garden,” said Landscape Architecture Associate Professor Michael LoFurno, who guided the students through the design-build process with Kate Benisek, associate professor of instruction and program head of landscape architecture and horticulture.
At the 2026 Flower Show, Temple’s exhibit takes visitors on a journey to the past, its influence on the present and how we can help preserve tomorrow, exploring “botanical migration” and how “our traditions are a product of our intergenerational relationship to place and to one another.”
“Each of the educational exhibits were charged with reflecting on an individual or group that gave them a start in horticulture or an impetus to study plants, work with plants, design with plants. For Temple’s exhibit, our research led us to one of the very first and what is now the oldest botanical garden in America, which was started by John and William Bartram,” said LoFurno. “I think as a design-build program, the (Landscape Architecture) Department provides students the unique opportunity to not just draw plans but actually build something. That creates a very valuable experience to see how components go together; how plants together with structure create unique environments; and how, when handling such diverse materials as wood rock, metal, glass and fabric, they are able to push the boundaries of what is possible in landscape design.”
For the students working on the exhibit, LoFurno said, “I think it’s initially hard for them to visualize how all of the pieces fit together.”
“I think it’s difficult for the (landscape architecture) students to fully grasp the impact the addition of living plants incorporated into the display has until it all comes together and how valuable it is that we are able to force and nurture those plants in our greenhouse facilities at Temple Ambler,” he said. “The plants create an environment that is lush and alive and vibrant.”
CommonWealth was additionally awarded the following honors.
The Bulkley Medal of the Garden Club of America for a special exhibit in the field of horticulture, botany or conservation. “The exhibit of exceptional educational merit increases the knowledge and awareness of the viewing public. It is the exhibit that best combines an important message with the ability to convey that message to the public.”
The Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association Trophy to an exhibit “showing the most effective use of plants and best use of design in the educational category.”
The PHS Gardening for the Greater Good Award for the exhibit “that best exemplifies PHS’ mission to activate horticulture and gardening as a force for the ‘greater good’ by advancing the health and well-being of the people and their environments.”
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Choice Award given to the exhibit that the RHS believes provides inspiration to visitors, the public and the horticultural industry.
The PHS Gold Medal Plant Award for the best use of PHS Gold Medal plants in a major exhibit.
Philadelphia Unit of the Herb Society of America for outstanding use of herbs or an individual specimen herb.
According to Benisek, she expected that the team would complete a strong exhibit, “but the number and array of accolades and trophies has been a delightful surprise!
“Our programs have built an incredible project team that practices this exercise year in and year out. Ben Snyder’s horticultural expertise and Gracie Laychock’s contributions to project management and coordination are vitally important,” she said. “Our curricular methods require students to consistently refine, evaluate and return to show and exhibit themes. We have learned a great deal over the years about what works and what doesn’t, what to expect, and to expect the unexpected.”
Of the awards, “the Bulkley Medal really stands out to me because it’s about educational value and that the exhibit increased knowledge and awareness,” said landscape architecture junior Lindsay Slusser.
“That was always the heart of the project,” she said. “The Gardening for the Greater Good Award also means a lot because it ties directly to why I’m studying landscape architecture in the first place—plants and landscapes should make life better for communities, not just be decoration.”
Temple has the rare distinction of winning the Bulkley Medal—given to just one exhibit at the show each year—and a PHS Gold Medal in 2023, 2024, 2025 and now 2026. This is the first time Temple has won the Royal Horticultural Society Choice Award, which is also given to just one exhibit at the show, according to LoFurno.
“The fact that a jury representing the Royal Horticultural Society in the United Kingdom presented our exhibit this award reminds us that this show has international appeal and people come far and wide to the show to see world class exhibits,” he said. “Temple’s exhibit was recognized by seven different independent panels of judges. To have it recognized by so many different experts is a testament to our attention to detail and the creation of a space within the Convention Center that transports you to another time and place.”
The student team for the 2026 exhibit includes landscape architecture students Jennifer Castro, Maeva Dawson, Riley Deile, Jack Getz, Stephanie Haynesworth, Helen Jara-Castro, Sydney Johnson, Lara Makdsi and Lindsay Slusser.
Having their exhibit recognized so positively at the 2026 Flower Show “feels validating in a really human way,” said Slusser.
“We spent months problem-solving, reworking details, second-guessing decisions and trusting each other, so seeing CommonWealth: Nourishing Community and Our Natural World receive a PHS Gold Medal and the other awards tells me people understood what we were trying to say,” she said. “The exhibit wasn’t just meant to look nice. It was meant to teach, to connect people to Philadelphia’s landscape story and to show that gardening can care for both people and ecosystems. The recognition makes it feel like that message definitely landed.”
According to LoFurno, the design incorporated the color gold “to tie the whole exhibit together, which is evident in the choices of materials as well as the corn in the silo, the golden apples and the Florida Anise plants, with their chartreuse leaves that really stand out—a lot of people have remarked on that particular plant and how bright and cheery it is.
“It is a color that leads your eye around the exhibit from one space to another. The design of the exhibit is very sinuous, shaped to give people a chance to step out of the traffic on the floor and step into coves to look at and study things,” he added. “The shape compels you to move all the way around the exhibit, to take a little extra moment to study the plants and the sound and the water.”
Temple’s landscape architecture program is one of less than a handful of accredited programs in the nation that includes a mandatory design-build experience. The hands-on aspect of the Flower Show project and the emphasis on design-build throughout Tyler’s landscape architecture program promotes skills students might not experience otherwise.
“Through this experience, I learned how collaborative design works in the real world. Not everyone agrees, materials don’t behave and ideas evolve once you build them,” said Slusser. “I learned patience, communication and how to protect a concept while still respecting other people’s contributions. More than anything, I gained confidence that I can work through complex group challenges and still help produce something meaningful.”
Slusser said she hopes the visitors that experience Temple’s exhibit in the coming week “leave with a sense of wonder and curiosity in learning about the people who shaped Philadelphia’s landscapes and realizing they can shape it too.
“Gardening and nature aren’t background scenery; they’re part of community life and health,” she said. “If someone walks out thinking a little more about plants, about stewardship or feeling inspired to care for their own piece of land, then we did our job.”
Ultimately, Benisek said she hopes the students working on the exhibit “recognize the importance of iteration, evaluation and execution when we design and build in this or any environment.
“Assembly is a critical and, as a student, an often-intangible component of the design process,” she said. “Building an exhibit at this scope and scale requires physical action and teamwork. Collaboration is required for this, and all successful design-build endeavors.”
Temple also continues to be one of only a handful of exhibitors that force their own plants for their exhibits, said Benjamin Snyder, manager of the Tyler Greenhouse Education and Research Complex. Learn more about the meticulous process here.
“Our exhibit receiving these awards is a reflection of the months of dedication our students and fellow faculty and staff have put into all aspects of our display,” Snyder said. “From developing the message and symbolism of the exhibit to creating a design that conveys that to the show visitors through to the final installation on the show floor, it has been a cohesive group effort, the success of which has translated into another spectacular exhibit and the subsequent recognition by the Flower Show judges.”
Horticulture students Jane Lally, Sophia Lentz and Nicholas Schultz and landscape architecture student Ryan Frazier worked with Snyder, preparing 1,271 individual plants representing 99 different taxa for the exhibit.
“The horticultural side of the exhibit has been in preparation since last summer. Because the plant forcing process is so long and precise, the students working with the plants have had a countdown to opening day of the show for months leading up to the actual installation,” Snyder said. “For our students—especially those working on the plant side for the first time—it is a balancing act of trusting the process as well as adapting and problem-solving over the monthslong forcing schedule. When you start forcing an oak in December, there is a lot that could potentially go wrong in those 84 days until exhibit judging. It is exciting for everyone to see it all pay off in the end and be successful.”
For students, Snyder said, “it is a unique opportunity where they get to see a project through from concept to build.”
“They get hands-on experience adapting and adjusting to make sure that everything comes together on the show floor. In their careers, there are very few projects that are going to go exactly as planned,” he said. “This gives them the chance to see how persevering and working through the challenges can result in an award-winning outcome.”
While the week of the Flower Show may be the culmination of the students’ work, “parts of our exhibit will live on beyond the show,” according to Snyder.
“After being viewed by thousands of visitors during the week of the Flower Show, all of the plant material is returned to the Ambler Campus. A portion is kept for use in future shows,” he said. “The remaining plants are added to existing outdoor collections at the Ambler Arboretum and the Greenhouse Education and Research Complex, where they will continue to educate visitors and students here at the Ambler Campus for years to come.”
For a behind the scenes look at the making of CommonWealth: Nourishing Community and Our Natural World, view the videos on YouTube.
Building upon a rich history of environmental teaching that dates back more than a century, Temple’s landscape architecture and horticulture programs are a unique blend of disciplines, providing students with the design and plant background necessary to succeed in any aspect of the green industry.
The landscape architecture and horticulture programs, part of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, are committed to excellence in ecologically based education. The goal of the programs is to train leaders in the art and science of horticulture (AS, BS and certificate programs) and landscape architecture (MLArch and BS programs). The programs provide students with knowledge and understanding of the environment so that they can improve the quality of our urban, suburban and rural communities.
For more information on the horticulture and landscape architecture programs at Temple University Ambler, visit tyler.temple.edu/programs/landscape-architecture-horticulture.
For more information about the 2026 Philadelphia Flower Show, visit theflowershow.com.