For one week in March, the Philadelphia Flower Show becomes the center of the universe for gardening and horticulture enthusiasts, offering visitors row upon row of flora to fawn over. The venerable exhibition, which dates back to 1829, is the world's largest indoor flower show. Green industry professionals and consumers nationwide flock to its 34 acres of indoor space within the city's Pennsylvania Convention Center. The show attracts more than 300,000 visitors and brings in exhibitors from Africa, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, Holland, Italy, and Belgium. The show, which runs from March 5 through March 12 this year, is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Penn State Cooperative Extension has maintained a presence at the show for decades using this golden opportunity to meet and educate consumers. For the past decade or so, the extension exhibit focused on a single theme. In 1999, extension expanded its role to better reflect how the extension system serves consumers and the green industry. "We're serving a very affluent, educated clientele at the flower show," says Delaware County agent Rick Johnson. "But many consumers don't know what extension is, or how it works. Hundreds of exhibitors can answer questions, but no one else has the breadth of expertise that we offer the public."

Johnson, Delaware County turfgrass agent Nancy Bosold, and other horticultural agents expanded the extension exhibit, bringing in horticultural extension agents, Penn State Master Gardeners, and faculty specialists to staff the display. "We decided to focus on what we do best--education," says Montgomery County agent David Suchanic. "Instead of supplying expertise on just one topic, we created a mini extension office that really gives visitors a sense of what we do."

In addition to the expanded extension exhibit, the 2001 show will feature an interactive display based on the IPM factsheet series Creating Healthy Landscapes. "We are going to bring each fact sheet to life," Suchanic says of the large display, which is a collaborative effort by the cooperative extension services of Penn State, Rutgers University, the University of Delaware, and other exhibitors, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Delaware Valley College, Temple University, and three Philadelphia-area secondary schools: the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, the Horticulture Academy at Abraham Lincoln High School, and the Walter Biddle Saul School of Agricultural Sciences.

"Visitors will see how IPM works in an urban neighborhood, a park setting, a townhouse development, and a wetlands area--all inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center," Suchanic says. The display, titled "Great Gardeners Create Healthy Landscapes," is part of the 2001 show's central theme,"Great Gardens of the World."

--John Wall