Longtime friends spend decades exhibiting at PHS Philadelphia Flower Show with The Siblings Group

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Anna Marie Amey and Sue Chapin have been united by flowers and plants for decades. They started exhibiting at the Philadelphia Flower Show in the 1970s with a garden club before The Siblings group was formed 25 years ago.

Amey says The Siblings group is just what it sounds like - "relatives that work together." It has now become a big extended family that meets up just to work on their PHS Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit each year.

Amey provides the creative vision.

"I don't have green thumbs and I don't really know how to arrange things, but I do enjoy the idea part of making a flower show exhibit," she says.

Chapin, who's godmother to Amey's daughter, brings that vision to life.

"I place everything and then work on the arrangement," says Chapin. "I've been competitive in the Philadelphia Flower Show since 1973."

With their combined experience, it's a winning combination. They earned a blue ribbon this year for their tablescape entry in the competitive classes.

"It's called, Gallery Gala: Flora and Fossils," says Amey of their exhibit.

Their design challenge was to present a celebration.

"Our celebration takes place in a museum of natural history, and it is in the dinosaur section," she says.

Amey says they chose to use plants and flowers, like birds of paradise, because it reminded them of dinosaurs, like pterodactyls. The goal was to make it feel like a step back in time.

"A lot of these plants are primordial or prehistoric," she says. "Ferns and magnolias and ginkgoes and pines all made it through the great extinction."

Amey says finding out the history of what she's doing adds to the fun of her creative process. Their tablescape tells a story.

"The party is staged for the paleontologist and the paleobotanist to enjoy," she says. "So, you'll get a feeling that the dinosaur moved through this area, took a swipe at the arrangement, and then is looking out at us from the woodsy part of the display."

Amey says she has lots of good memories of exhibiting over the years, win or lose.

"All of us who are exhibiting are good buddies," she says.

She calls the experience, "wonderful" since it's expanded her family. She says they have a real love for each other, as well as a love for what they're doing.

For more information on the 2024 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, visit PHSonline.org.