Blooming ambitions: nineteenth-century flower exhibitions, science, and the cultivation of urban life in Portugal

Abstract This article examines nineteenth-century Portuguese horticultural exhibitions during the Liberal period, situating them within broader European exhibition culture. It argues that these events played a pivotal role in the professionalization of horticulture and provided a vital platform for horticulturists, gardeners, and amateurs, including women, to showcase their achievements and contribute to horticulture as a scientific discipline. By contextualizing Portuguese exhibitions within the historiography of international fairs, this study highlights their role in projecting botanical and horticultural progress, particularly in a peripheral European country like Portugal. It demonstrates that exhibitions, beyond promoting artworks as consumer goods, elevated horticultural products to objects of science, art, and culture. This conclusion is upheld by examining horticulture’s path towards independence from agricultural exhibitions, as well as the alternating leadership roles of Lisbon and Porto in this field. Additionally, we explore the contribution of the Royal Society of Horticulture in the professionalization of horticulture by fostering competition, knowledge exchange, aesthetic appreciation, and public engagement, while promoting flower exhibitions and enhancing botanical and horticultural knowledge. Ultimately, this article reshapes historiography by positioning horticultural exhibitions as instruments of applied science, public engagement, and urban modernization.