As the 2025 Winter Flower Show at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory opens this week, many visitors will enjoy their first glimpse of the new accessibility improvements recently made to the Sunken Garden. Knowing that so many eyes would be on the space after its two-month closure, horticulturist Katie Horvath decided to create a floral design scheme that would give visitors a very warm welcome back.
“Winter can be a time for those cooler, icier colors, which are beautiful, but when I got to thinking about what I like best in winter, it’s about finding those warm, cozy spaces,” says Horvath. “Walking in to find warmth in the middle of winter became my goal for the garden’s design.”
This is Horvath’s first design for the Sunken Garden, a process she started more than a year ago to guarantee that featured flowers like the primrose would have the time required to start from seed and go through a lengthy cold-weather germination process. She also spent time exploring more tropical color tones than are typical in wintery botanical gardens. “I looked at ways of combining a lot of oranges and yellows and peachy sherbet-type colors, with mixtures of cherry and caramel and a lot of really pretty deep reds.”
Among the standouts are the hibiscus mahogany splendor, a peachy dalmatian foxglove, and a mix of buttery and dainty chantilly salmon snapdragons, and pilea Moon Valley with its distinctive kiwi- and bronze-colored leaves. Como’s production greenhouse also cultivated the charming sweet pea vines climbing up the trellises installed throughout the garden.
The other star of the show will likely be the new pedestrian ramps that now lead to the garden, improving access for guests with strollers, walkers, wheelchairs and other mobility challenges. “Change isn’t always easy,” Horvath says about the nearly 100 years of memories contained in Minnesota’s most beautiful room. “But hopefully when people get back into the Sunken Garden they’ll appreciate how amazing the space is, and just how amazing plants are.”
Thanks to your contributions to Como Friends, Como’s five seasonal flower shows are always free to visitors. The Winter Flower Show is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through March 16, 2025.
“I really do feel the weight of how important it is for this space to reopen. I’m excited and incredibly proud to have grown these flowers and plants, designed the show, and finally planted the mixed beds again. But I also recognize how challenging it is, so I do feel a bit nervous about that. At the same time, I just think plants and flowers are incredible. When people walk into the Sunken Garden and see everything we’ve been cultivating, I hope they’ll appreciate it for more than just the structural changes in the space. I know this will be a big deal for some people—change can be tough, and there are a lot of changes in there. The space is going to feel new and different, and while the ramps and other elements may not be what some are used to, I’m hopeful that the beautiful plants and flowers surrounding them will make those changes feel easier to embrace.”
