When the Pasadena Garden Club stages a flower show, it does not set up card tables in a church hall. It takes over a wing of The Huntington.
“Pathways,” a juried flower show sanctioned by the Garden Club of America, will fill the Frances Lasker Brody Botanical Center on March 28 and 29, transforming the San Marino institution into a national stage for competitive floral design, horticulture, photography, and botanical arts. The Pasadena Garden Club, which has been a GCA member since 1920, is presenting the show. It is open to the public with Huntington admission.
The distinction matters. A GCA flower show is not a garden tour or a plant sale. It is a juried competition in which exhibitors — drawn from the organization’s approximately 200 member clubs and 18,000 members nationwide — submit work that is evaluated by trained judges against formal standards of design, cultivation, and craft. Floral design entries, according to GCA guidelines, are judged on principles including balance, contrast, dominance, proportion, rhythm, and scale. Horticulture specimens are judged against perfection.
The Pasadena Garden Club first met on June 28, 1916, founded by a group of friends interested in gardening, community development, and civic pride, according to the club’s history. Its members have shaped the landscape well beyond Pasadena: Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, a PGC member, was the force behind the creation of Joshua Tree National Park, working through the 1930s to educate the public about the fragility of desert vegetation. The club hosted the GCA Annual Meeting in 1969 and has organized GCA flower shows open to the public on a rotating schedule.
The Garden Club of America, founded in 1913, describes its flower shows as events that “combine artistic vision, horticultural mastery, engineering, and sophisticated craftsmanship to create a brief but brilliant display of beauty in time,” according to the organization’s website.
The choice of venue reflects a long relationship between the club and the institution. “The Pasadena Garden Club has had a long relationship with The Huntington,” the club said in a statement on the GCA website. “Our shared experiences over the years designed to enrich lives throughout our community makes us forever grateful to have their incredible botanical collections located in our backyard.”
The Brody Botanical Center, dedicated in October 2009, houses educational, exhibition, and research functions for The Huntington’s botanical gardens. The center was named for Frances Lasker Brody, whose $120 million bequest — described by The Huntington as the institution’s largest gift since its founding — supports the botanical collections. The Huntington itself encompasses 207 acres, with 130 acres of themed gardens open to the public.
The four competition divisions offer distinct windows into human engagement with the plant world. Floral design demands mastery of composition and the structural properties of living materials. Horticulture entries are judged on cultivation excellence. Photography asks exhibitors to see the botanical world through a lens. Botanical arts bridge the scientific and the aesthetic, drawing on traditions that stretch from medieval herbals to contemporary illustration. An education component is also part of the show.
“Pathways” runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, and Sunday, March 29. The show is included with Huntington admission: $34 for adults, free for members. Reservations are required on weekends and can be made at huntington.org. The show dates fall within The Huntington’s designated Spring Break and Easter peak season, when advance reservations are strongly recommended. Parking is free. The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Information: (626) 405-2100 or gcamerica.org/flowershows.
For a club that has spent 110 years in the dirt — building gardens, preserving the Arroyo Seco, teaching a nation about desert plants — a two-day show at one of the world’s great botanical institutions is not an arrival. It is a homecoming.
PATHWAYS: A GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA FLOWER SHOW Date & Time: Saturday, March 28 – Sunday, March 29, 2026, Venue: The Huntington, Frances Lasker Brody Botanical Center, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. Phone Number: (626) 405-2100. Website: https://www.gcamerica.org/flowershows
