Birch & Burlap: Atlanta Botanical Garden

Lights! Camera! Action! Registration is now open for exhibitors in the new Atlanta Botanical Garden Flower Show February 23 – 25, with the theme Ingenue: A Toast to Georgia’s Film Industry.

It’s been five years since Atlantans were treated to a wintertime show filled with all the beauty and fragrance of thousands of plants, giving guests a taste of springtime. So this new event, featuring juried competitions in Horticulture, Floral Design, and Photography, is sure to whet their appetites for the season (there’s also a Landscape Design division for professional designers).

“The Garden is the perfect setting for a flower show because our facilities and gardens will serve as a beautiful backdrop for these entries,” said Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s President & CEO.

Competitive entries will be showcased throughout Day Hall, Mershon Hall, and Gardenhouse, and exhibitors may register now (visit atlantabg.org/flowershow for deadlines). Adults, children, and garden clubs are encouraged to enter the competitions, all themed around the burgeoning Georgia film industry.

In addition to the competitions, the event, which benefits the botanical garden’s International Plant Exploration Program, will present two guest speakers: internationally renowned floral designer Bruno Duarte and Georgia floral and interior designer, and author James Farmer.

The show, which kicks off the evening of Thursday, Feb. 22, with a Preview Party at the garden’s Longleaf restaurant, honors Pat Hartrampf for her decades-long devotion to flowers shows in Atlanta and throughout Georgia.

Flower shows have long been a seasonal draw in many large cities throughout the United States, and Atlanta enjoyed such an event for 25 years, staged at various venues around the city, including the botanical garden. The first Atlanta Flower Show opened in 1988 and ran through 1993 before evolving into the Southeastern Flower Show from 1994 through 2013. From 2008 – 2013, the event was presented by the Southeastern Horticultural Society, which held its last show at Cobb Galleria Centre.

The Garden was a longtime exhibitor in the shows, and many of its earliest volunteers were active in the event.

Since the Southeastern Flower Show ended, the botanical garden often has been asked to help resurrect a flower show. “We decided it was time,“ Matheson said, “because it's so important to continue to offer competitive shows where the art and science of horticulture and floriculture can be presented and celebrated.”

Co-chairs for the show are Mary Wayne Dixon and Mary Katherine Greene.

For more information, visit atlantabg.org/flower show or call Devin Cowens at 404-591-1730.