These Popular Flower Shows Dig Into Expertise And Entertainment

Flower shows can range from large indoor exhibitions to outdoor spring festivals and gatherings. However, flower shows all provide bursts of enticing colors and bright greenery that can make any visitor marvel at their natural or sculpted beauty. These flower shows are some of the best worth traveling for.

Rochester Lilac Festival

In New York’s Finger Lakes region, the city of Rochester has been welcoming the Rochester Lilac Festival in Highland Park since its inception 128 years ago. This public park, designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, contains more than 500 varieties of lilacs. Attendees can marvel at these flowers while also going on walking tours and watching a parade. Other offerings range from a farmer’s market to live music performances to a 5K and 10K run. Art in the Park also coincides every weekend of the festival.

Dates: May 8 – 17, 2026

Sacred Heart Garden Festival

Vibrant azaleas bloom across Augusta’s neighborhoods each spring and this annual April festival in Georgia brings their beauty to the forefront. Held at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center, the Sacred Heart Garden Festival will offer garden tours, floral exhibits and a curated vendor market. The weekend also includes expert talks and demonstrations on gardening techniques, sustainable practices, and trends in landscape design that can help both beginners and seasoned gardeners improve their green thumbs. You can even take in an architectural side of the festival by checking out the center.

Dates: April 24 – 25, 2026

Philadelphia Flower Show

This Pennsylvania flower show is the nation’s largest and longest-running horticultural event and fundraiser. Taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the theme for the 2026 edition is “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening.” According to the show’s website, the focus is described as highlighting “the personal stories, cultural traditions, and horticultural inspiration that connect us to plants, each other, and shape how we garden today.”

Its programming will involve world-renowned and local exhibitors, with its Entrance Garden’s The Forest Floor” consisting of a Japanese Zen garden with a Scottish mist and a bold American design. The PHS Hamilton Horticourt will showcase best-in-class plants and flowers entered in the PHS Competitive Classes by both amateur and expert gardeners, and across a wide range of species and varieties. Visitors can also create their own floral and botanical designs with some expert guidance.

Dates: February 28 – March 8, 2026

The Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden

This annual flower show in The Bronx borough of New York City remains a local favorite. For 2026, NYBG is presenting “The Orchid Show: Mr. Flower Fantastic’s Concrete Jungle” turns the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory into a bedazzling floral landscape. This year’s edition is spearheaded by Mr. Flower Fantastic, a visionary designer and native New Yorker, who created an orchid tribute to the spirit, style and streetscape of New York City.

Orchids of many colors will be artistically merged with the cityscape, with architectural replications evoking familiar urban scenes reimagined in vibrant floral forms. Additionally, bold color palettes and textures that capture the rhythm and diversity of New York City life.

On certain evenings in March and April, NYBG will present Orchid Nights, which turns this space into a nightlife spot with music by DJ April Hunt and her platform, Mixtape, filling up the dance floor.

Dates: Now through April 26, 2026

EPCOT International Flavor & Garden Festival

At Walt Disney World in Orlando, the annual EPCOT International Flavor & Garden Festival is included with park admission and brings forth not only flowers but also flavors and fun for everyone. See topiaries shaped to show Disney characters as well as cultures and natural wonders. New this year, a pet-friendly garden, a wildlife crossing garden and a trendy tropical garden all blend in with gardens dedicated to fragrance or family play at a camp-themed garden.

Dates: March 4 through June 1, 2026

Santa Barbara International Orchid Show

This California orchid show is making its 78^th year this year, with the theme, “Orchid Escape.” Taking place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds, this International Orchid Show features this fascinating flower through jaw-dropping displays from around the world. Learn about orchid care and cultivation techniques through hands-on sessions, grower demonstrations, lectures and VIP tours. The 2026 edition also includes special events, ranging from an after-hours yoga and sound healing event, to a four-course orchid dinner.

Dates: March 20 – 22, 2026

Dollywood’s Flower & Food Festival

Dolly Parton’s famous park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. puts on a festival showcasing more than half-a-million colorful blooms including larger-than-life flower sculptures that highlight the animals of the Smokies. It also offers tributes to Dolly, like a mosaiculture of Dolly’s mother stitching her iconic Coat of Many Colors.

Along with showcasing vibrant flower bed displays, this park celebration will feature mouthwatering festival foods, show stopping performances, a photo-worthy Umbrella Sky and more than 50 rides and attractions.

Dollywood will also introduce a new race weekend, Run Dollywood, on April 25-26, and plans to open a new ride, NightFlight Expedition, during this spring event.

Dates: April 18 – June 7, 2026

Skagit County Tulip Festival

In this region of Washington state, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival does not have one location but several — it’s countywide. Five tulip gardens and multiple tulip and daffodil fields are the festival’s main draws, each one being miles apart. Visitors can buy tickets to five separately owned and operated gardens via Gardens and Tickets on the festival’s website.

Dates: The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival opens when the tulips start to blossom, often being April 1, and lasts throughout the month. Check the bloom status via this website.

Tulip Time Festival

The association of tulips with Holland, Mich. dates back to the late 1920s, when a biology teacher named Lida Rogers suggested adopting the tulip as the city flower. It’s also a nod to the city’s Dutch name.

The city council appropriated funding to purchase 100,000 bulbs from the Netherlands, thus leading to an annual event celebrating their presence around this Michigan destination. Today, the Tulip Time Festival celebrates these efforts with many activities—and tulips—across multiple locations.

Dates: May 1 – 10, 2026

Mackinac Island Lilac Festival

For 10 days in June, this car-free, Victorian-era resort destination in Michigan’s Lake Huron celebrates this multi-stemmed shrub and its history on the island.

Activities at the Mackinac Island Lilac Festival extend to a Lilac Queen coronation and official poster reveal, 10K Run/Walk, lilac walking tours, lilac planting seminars, a Michigan Cornhole tournament and a Grand Parade.

Dates: June 5 – 14, 2026