Flower Show Exhibits Offer Advice on Protecting Watershed

At the 2018 Philadelphia Flower Show, exhibits showcasing how Delaware Valley residents can protect their waterways took center stage.

This week, thousands of Delaware Valley residents will head to the annual Philadelphia Flower Show to take in the sights and sounds. But what will they leave with?

Kevin Feeley, communications manager for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which puts on the show, hopes it’s a bit of knowledge on how to protect the region’s most precious natural resource and the theme of the 2018 show: water.

“There’s a real educational opportunity with this theme, the ‘Wonders of Water,’” Feeley said. “To use the show as a learning tool for how people can start protecting and conserving water in their own backyards.”

Feeley said the show’s annual themes are selected well in advance, but that this year’s Wonders of Water theme is timely due to water crises ranging from lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, to water shortages in Africa. This year, the society partnered and received funding from the William Penn Foundation to showcase water issues specific to the Delaware Valley.