Icons Shape Culture

Icons influence how we live and what we create, leaving an imprint across time. Few forces have had that kind of reach through eras and culture like the garden. For thousands of years, our relationship with plants has influenced how we live, make, design, eat, and express ourselves.

The garden’s cultural influence can be traced across centuries and creative disciplines, from Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” and the botanical patterns of William Morris to floral motifs in fashion and textiles and the garden-inspired worlds in literature and film. Beyond art and design, the garden has long inspired how we experience flavor and   fragrance, from the herbs, fruits, and vegetables we cultivate to the botanical ingredients at the heart of perfumery.

Today, it continues to inspire art, design, fashion, food, film, architecture, and beyond. ICONIC brings that far-reaching influence into focus, exploring why we return to the garden again and again for inspiration.

As a part of the 2027 Flower Show, PHS is bringing together five of Pennsylvania’s most iconic public gardens as a part of The Pennsylvania Public Gardens Showcase. Chanticleer Gardens, Longwood Gardens, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, and The Arboretum at Penn State will each create a garden that reflects its distinctive horticultural vision. Together, these institutions will give visitors a rare opportunity to experience the artistry, expertise, and horticultural excellence of leading public gardens from across the Commonwealth. The Showcase reflects the Philadelphia region’s unique position as home to one of the country’s greatest concentrations of public gardens, arboretums, and horticultural institutions, earning it the distinction of “America’s Garden Capital.”

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