Hicks Nurseries Flower & Garden Show: The science behind the blooms
A look behind the scenes at how this local garden center gets thousands of plants to bloom weeks ahead of time for their annual flower show.
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Spring is just around the corner, but it's already in full bloom at Hicks Nurseries 36th Annual Flower and Garden Show. For the past 36 years, Hicks has been able to bring spring (and summer!) color weeks ahead of schedule. Here's how they got thousands of plants to bloom right on cue for their Flower & Garden show.
About the show
Hicks Nurseries 36th Annual Flower and Garden show runs from March 5 to March 29th. Throughout the show, different plants will come into bloom, starting with azaleas at the start of the show and ending with plants like big leaf rhododendron and magnolia.
This year's theme is Game of Gardens, with 8 gardens and 5 water features inspired by your favorite games. The show is free to attend and is located right inside Hicks Nurseries in Westbury.
Also included, free of charge, is a scavenger hunt around the gardens available 7 days a week. On weekends there is a Plant-a-Pea hands on activity that will teach kids how to plant pea seeds and bring home their own.
Bloom Time Meets Showtime
Outdoors, plants bloom one after another, hellebores in March, azaleas in April, hydrangeas in summer, but inside the greenhouse at Hicks Nurseries they're blooming all at once.
That takes careful planning and horticultural science.
Ken Mullers, Senior Landscape Designer at Hicks Nurseries, explains that many plants require vernalization, a period of cold temperatures that triggers flowering.
The nursery needs to chill plants like azlaeas and magnolias for weeks, then gradually warm them in greenhouses to simulate the arrival of spring. For spring plants like Hellebores, this process started just a few weeks ago, but for summer plants like Hydrangea, the process started back in December.
By tracking exactly how long each plant takes over the show's history, growers can schedule bloom time with remarkable precision.
Reading the Buds
Even with years of records, growers still rely on hands-on observation. With plants like rhododendrons, buds reveal their timing. When buds become slightly sticky and begin to swell, it’s a sign flowers will appear in about a week. Those small clues help growers decide which plants will peak at the beginning of the show, and which will be staged for later weeks.
Most greenhouse blooms only last a few weeks, so the show will change throughout the run this month.
Spring, No Matter the Weather
The finishing touches are going in now with water features, themed gardens, and thousands of carefully timed blooms. The show had record attendance last year, and with the snowiest February in Long Island history now behind us, the timing for this year's show couldn't be better.
