Exhibition Opening and Lecture | Bouquet of Stories: Celebrating Philadelphia’s Gardening Heritage
Bouquet of Stories: Celebrating Philadelphia’s Gardening Heritage opens with an evening exploring three centuries of Philadelphia gardening history. Presented by The Athenaeum of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society as part of PHS’s 200th anniversary celebration, the exhibition brings together rare objects, photographs, and stories of the growers, dreamers, and changemakers who used gardening to cultivate beauty, community, creativity, and resilience.
The opening program features a conversation with exhibition curators Abra Lee and Tracy Qiu, moderated by Andrew Bunting of PHS, along with an opportunity to preview the exhibition and a reception. The exhibition considers immigrant seed traditions, pioneering women, neighborhood greening efforts, the Philadelphia Flower Show, and the city’s lasting influence on American horticulture.
When: Friday, November 6
Showtimes: Exhibition preview from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m.; curator conversation from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; reception from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Venue: The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3794
Lineup: Abra Lee and Tracy Qiu appear in conversation, moderated by Andrew Bunting, PHS’s vice president of horticulture.
Abra Lee: Lee is director of horticulture at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, a Victorian garden cemetery and burial park. Her professional experience includes work as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager. Her writing and horticultural work have appeared in The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Fine Gardening, and Veranda Magazine. She studied agriculture at Auburn University and is an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows.
Tracy Qiu: Qiu is a researcher, facilitator, and artist of Chinese descent and settler-Canadian immigration. She consults with garden organizations on cultural issues, identity, inclusion, and belonging in public landscapes. Her work examines racial diversity in public gardens, audiences, colonial systems of power, and the meaning of decolonization in contemporary gardens.
Exhibition: Bouquet of Stories explores Philadelphia’s gardening heritage through rare objects, photographs, and personal and community histories. It traces how gardening has shaped the city across generations and invites visitors to connect their own experiences with the gardens that continue to influence Philadelphia.
Tickets: Free
Registration: The event is sold out and registration is closed. A waiting list is available.
Partnership: The exhibition is presented with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society as part of its 200th anniversary celebration and is supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.