PHS Philadelphia Flower Show Competitor Bringing Unique Plants to Horticourt for Nearly 30 Years
LANCASTER, PA (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging
Master Gardener Denise Conklin has been competing at the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show for nearly 30 years. This year she registered more than 30 plants in the show's Horticourt.
"You're talking about excellence of growing a plant and excellence of showing it," says Conklin.
Denise was exposed to the Philadelphia Flower Show at an early age.
"I was five or six," she says.
Growing up in Detroit, her mom, a Philadelphia native, made it an annual trip every spring. When Denise moved to Lancaster with her husband in the 1990s, she got the itch to compete.
"All I did was take one plant in '97, '98 to the show and I was hooked," she says.
Conklin earned her certification as a master gardener over 40 years ago.
"Designing a garden, color, height, everything that goes into that I thoroughly enjoy," she says.
During a career managing nonprofits, plants were an escape.
"If I'm gardening and I'm weeding and my hands are in the dirt, the blood pressure goes down," she says.
She specializes in orchids and begonias, like her award-winning bashful bandit.
"It's a big begonia," she says.
She's showing that for the 15th year.
Conklin is also showing a peperomia plant. She says the giant tropical is one-of-a-kind since it's "the largest in the country."
The white frond on her asparagus fern is a hard-to-find feature.
"There's three in this area," she says.
And, her Red Fred is an annual show favorite, with leaves as big as a person's head. The giant leaves turn a burgundy red in the summer along with red flowers. She takes care of this plant, and many of her others, at Little Brook Orchids in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
While the competition is important, the community is why Denise Conklin returns each year to the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show.
"They are the same type of person that you are," she says. "The thing I enjoy the most is the friends that I have down at the garden show."
