What’s Behind the Bulbs? Community in Bloom at the Botanic Garden

At the end of spring break, the Botanic Garden wrapped up its annual Bulb Show, where thousands of flowers contrasted dreary March skies. 

The Bulb Show is an annual two-week event that began over 100 years ago. It attracts visitors with precisely coordinated blooms and art installations, but to Botanic Garden Director John Berryhill, the show is more than just a colorful display. “I hope it's [an] invitation to see what we are the other 50 weeks of the year,” Berryhill said.

By Zuri McCune. Flowers in bloom at the Botanic Garden.

Staff and volunteers of the Botanic Garden come together to collaborate on and create the Bulb Show months before the event takes place. According to Berryhill, the Bulb Show gets tens of thousands of visitors per year. 

So, who is actually running the scenes behind the curtains? Managing the foot traffic, event planning, and plant care is a delicate affair that requires time and effort. 

The process begins in late fall, when the garden makes purchasing decisions and orders the bulbs. Once they arrive, they are packed together into a massive food fridge. A core team of staff and volunteers has duties ranging from administrative needs to engagement to horticulture. 

The most important botanical factor in the show is the flowers’ natural blooming patterns. The organizers have to consider when the flowers naturally reach their peaks. “There's a century of knowledge that our team has that allows us to do that with remarkable precision,” Berryhill said. Putting the bulbs together in the freezer gives them a “fake winter” and triggers their growth. When the organizers take the bulbs out in January, the flowers think it is an early spring.

Smith students and community members alike were drawn to the Bulb Show to enjoy the display. “I was taken away by the vibrancy of the colors and all of the flowers,” sophomore Tessa Kennedy said.  “[The show was] glorious, hopeful, and nourished my soul and spirit,” said Jenny Jackson, another visitor of the Botanic Garden. 

By Zuri McCune. Student art installation among blooms.

A new key feature of the Bulb Show is its student-created art installation, intended to foster collaboration between Smith artists and the Botanic Garden. According to Berryhill, collaborating with the Botanic Garden gives student artists a taste of the challenges that a professional artist might experience while working with a client.

“You have a very unique environment that you have to work around. You have another work schedule; the installation of the Bulb Show itself co-occurs with the installation of the art. So that is something that you can't quite mimic in a class,” Berryhill said.

Although the floral arrangements change from year to year, “the art installation program gives the show its own unique spirit and identity every single year, in a way that the flowers alone don't,” Berryhill said.

By Zuri McCune. Student art installation.

This year, the Botanic Garden also focused on implementing and improving accessibility for people with mobility constraints or sensory sensitivities. “We see an opportunity to do better… [this] has been part of the work our equity and inclusion committee at the Botanic Garden is doing,” Berryhill said. 

After the show ends, the Botanic Garden doesn’t just throw out all the flowers. They usually host an event for Smith students to make bouquets. The garden has also distributed the bulbs to local nonprofits, our own gardens, other local gardens, and community gardeners in the past. 

Ultimately, Berryhill hopes that the Botanic Garden isn’t viewed as a static collection. “Plants are almost more the how than the what,” Berryhill said. “Community building, sustainability, conservation, and social justice are all happening here, and plants are a way to do that."

By Zuri McCune. Flowers in bloom at the Botanic Garden.

By Amelia DeHoff, Elsie Rea, and Beatrice Tauer