For the first time in 192 years of history, the Philadelphia Flower Show will be held outdoors – moving to South Philadelphia FDR Park for a nine-day nature-themed event from June 5 to 13, 2021.

The show, America’s largest and oldest garden show in the world, normally takes place in late winter on 10 acres inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center on 12th and Race streets.

Concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the show’s producer, to push back the date and look to an outside location to support social distancing and other prevention measures viruses.

Admission will be limited, with guests having to purchase tickets in advance for specific dates and entry times.

Tickets will go on sale in January at show website.

Members of the horticultural society will get a first and earlier crack at booking tickets.

The 2021 Philadelphia Flower Show will take place on 15 acres of the 348-acre FDR Park.

This site not only offers spacious trails, mature trees and lakes, but it offers good access for car and coach traffic as well as public transportation, company officials said.

The theme of the 2021 show will be “Habitat: Nature’s Masterpiece,” with a focus on pollinators, natural landscapes and how plants are essential to healthy ecosystems.

The June schedule will allow show attendees to use plants at their normal stage of development instead of having to “force” plants to leaf and flower early in greenhouses in order to put on a winter show.

Exhibit officials say this will allow for new approaches to exhibits, although many of the exhibit’s regular features, such as flower shows and educational programs, will be retained.

The general plan will be broken down into three “districts”.

One will be the Plant District, showcasing the best of the best in plants and plant care.

The second will be a Design District, featuring gardens designed by landscape companies and designers.

And the third will be a Garden District, where guests will learn how to put it all together with hands-on horticultural practices.

Each neighborhood will feature entertainment, shopping, food and drink, as well as interactive exhibits in addition to exhibits.

FDR Park is located in South Philadelphia, near the Navy Yards and adjacent to the city’s three professional sports stadiums (Lincoln Financial Field, Citizens Bank Park, and Wells Fargo Center).

The park dates back to 1913, when famous landscape architectural firm Olmsted Brothers designed what was originally called League Island Park, or “The Lakes” for short.

The land consisted of wetlands and marshes that were gradually drained between the late 1700s and early 1900s – first for agriculture and later for housing.

In typical Olmsted form, the park has been laid out with a large welcoming lawn and a network of wide winding paths leading through the lakes, fields and wooded areas of the site.

The park’s iconic lookout that overlooks the site’s largest lake was built in 1914, followed two years later by a stone boathouse that sits on the same lake shore further west.

In 1926, the park hosted the National Centennial Exhibition, which led to the construction of several other municipal buildings, including the Swedish American Historical Museum, which tells the story of Scandinavian immigrants to the United States

A golf course (now closed) was added in the 1940s. It was also around this time that the park was renamed in honor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Today, FDR Park also includes a playground, four baseball diamonds, a skate park, birding areas and 126 acres of forest.

The 2021 flower show will open on Saturday June 5 at 8 a.m. with time slots reserved for morning and afternoon admissions until 5 p.m.

The show hours are then from June 6 to 13 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with entry slots in the morning and afternoon.

Horticultural Society members who invest in the Activist level ($ 150 to $ 249) get two free tickets and access to a member-only preview day on Friday, June 4.

The flower show typically attracts around 250,000 visitors from across the region, the United States and the world and has been named “Best Event” by the International Festivals and Events Association.

It has also won “Best of the Best” honors for five consecutive years from the American Bus Association.

PHS is a non-profit organization founded in 1827 that promotes tree planting, greening initiatives, and gardening education in the Philadelphia area and beyond.

More details about the show, including a short video, are posted on the site PHS website.