Join a boo-tanical bash that delights and frights with Fall Flower Show: Happy Troll-O-Ween!

Spooky season has arrived at Phipps and the trolls are taking their final encore with an October celebration of all things creepy and crawly as The Hidden Life of Trolls presents Fall Flower Show: Happy Troll-O-Ween! Whimsical new additions to the show are surrounded by tens of thousands of stunning chrysanthemum blooms from plants that have been in training all year long. Mark your calendars to see it — this frighteningly fun exhibit lasts only three weeks!

Phipps has been creating chrysanthemum-themed seasonal shows since 1894, and today its Fall Flower Show is the longest running in the nation, making it a Pittsburgh tradition that you can't experience anywhere else! 

Exhibit Features

• Delight at Fen and Ivy’s new Halloween costumes and Leif’s flickering jack-o-lantern as he looks over a sea of chrysanthemums in shades of red and orange with accents of dusty gray foliage.
• Marvel at a 10-foot-tall gnarled tree with beautiful cascade mums instead of autumn leaves in a display that was inspired by the crooked windswept trees of Trollskogen (or “troll forest”) in Sweden.
• Admire Aegir the water troll’s new fall look as his island-like head is decorated with an autumnal wreath made of fall leaves and pine cones, and the pond is filled with floating islands of deep red mums.
• Witness a trio of trick-or-trollers dressed up in their Halloween best and asking Bjorn the grumpy troll for treats — and be sure to dodge any flying pumpkins that Bjorn hurls your way!
• Solve new fall-themed riddles from Bridget the bridge troll and inspect her new spooky cave, where she has stashed troll treats.
• Learn about how trolls have been depicted in vastly different ways in pop culture throughout modern history.
• Search for tiny troll additions to the miniature displays of Garden Railroad: Bridges and Tunnels.
• Delight at a collage display of all of the many original trolls that children submitted to the Make Your Own Troll activity all summer long.
• Follow along Phipps’ social media channels for haunted horticulture posts where we highlight spooky plants blooming at Phipps.
• Come dressed in your favorite Halloween costume as you join us in this celebration of all things spooky!

Fall Flower Show: Happy Troll-O-Ween was designed by Phipps Plant Recorder and Procurer Laura Schoch and runs for only three weeks — from Oct. 9 – 31 — so be sure not to miss it! 

Photos © Phil Johnson II and Paul g. Wiegman