Patrick Adams Talks 2024’s Spring Flower Show

The Adams Spring Flower Shows are an annual tradition celebrating the rejuvenating appeal of gardening. Every year, our stores put on these flower displays at the tail end of winter to encourage plant care and revel in the coming sunshine. As Pat Adams puts it, the appeal is simple. He says, “If you want to get a breath of beauty and fresh air here in the doldrums of winter, this should amaze you and hopefully inspire you to want to get out and garden when the weather allows it.” And I’d take his word for it, as he has witnessed this event evolve into the floral extravaganza it is today for over 50 years.

Pat recalls the early days of Adams flower shows, noting the initial minimalistic approach. When he was a kid in the mid-70s, his father Don Adams was co-running the company as they first began occasionally rolling out events in their greenhouse. The company was much smaller then and the displays were far more basic. But roughly a decade later, while Pat was finishing college, something changed. “The idea came about to try to maybe up the game as far as doing a show,” he remembers. This is when the Adams Spring Flower Show officially became a yearly event.

Reflecting on past highlights, Pat points to the 75^th anniversary and 100^th anniversary shows as particularly memorable iterations due to their larger scale and company significance—the latter of which was thankfully held right under the wire in 2019 before the Covid-19 lockdowns. Not that the pandemic was even able to stop the party, it was merely retooled. People were just let in gradually and the show continued.

For Pat, it’s all about seeing the reactions to the garden showcase as people walk through an expansive Spring color palette and smell the earthy fragrance. This can truly be an invigorating experience for those who have spent the last few months shoveling snow and feeling the sting of cold air. As Pat explains it, “You walk into this beautifully landscaped arena of the greenhouse and it’s just a nice respite showing us that Spring is right around the corner. People are wowed just by this change in scenery.”

Still, Pat remains in awe of how the Adams Spring Flower Shows continue to top themselves. He explains, “Every year, I always think ‘How are they going to try to come up with new ideas for next year?” At least for 2024, the well has yet to run dry. With an exciting new theme of Adams in Wonderland, guests will be tossed down the rabbit hole toward a floral oasis. But as gardeners new and old are being inspired to play in the dirt this Spring, Pat himself will be introduced to some wonderful ideas—though, not the ones you might expect. “I never really watched Alice in Wonderland. So maybe I’ll learn what that was all about,” he says.

Shows will be held at the Poughkeepsie and Newburgh Adams stores from February 23^rd to March 3^rd and at the Kingston and Middletown locations from March 1^st to March 10^th.