[1] Set in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin, the play opens at Truvy's in-home beauty parlor where a group of women regularly gather.

[2] The play is based on the family experience of the death of author Robert Harling's sister, Susan Harling-Robinson, in 1985 from diabetic complications after the birth of his namesake nephew and the failure of a family-member-donated kidney.

[3][4] Harling, maybe based on his short, dry experience in the field of law ("not many laughs in Brown v. Board of Education"),[3] felt it important to include the way the characters used humor and lighthearted conversations to cope with the seriousness of the underlying situations.

[5] Replacements during the original Off-Broadway run included Anne Pitoniak, Bette Henritze, Rita Gardner, Maeve McGuire, and Stacy Ray.

M'Lynn Eatenton - Jean Thomas Shelby Eatenton - Buckley Watson Truvy Jones - Nicola Salisbury-Faulkner Annelle Dupuy Desoto - Kaitlen Adams Clairee Belcher - Jennifer Musetti Ouiser Boudreaux - Louisa Crossle Ireland: Staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on September 11–22, 2012, directed by Ben Barnes, and on country-wide tour until October 19 the same year.

[18] After three successful runs in Paris and multiple nationwide tours, its final performance, attended by Robert Harling, was filmed on June 12, 2017 and released on the French channel C8 a few months later.

Cast: Mayuko Aoyama as Truvy, Kaoru Inoue as Annelle, Mayumi Katayam as Clairee, Midori Ando as Shelby, Atsuko Kawaguchi as M'Lynn and Minae as Ouiser.

[23][24] Sweden: Premiered on November 16, 2008 at Vasateatern in Stockholm (with Robert Harling in attendance) titled "Blommor av Stål", it was directed by Emma Bucht and translated by Klas Östergren and Edward af Sillén.

The cast: Cecilia Nilsson as Truvy, Pernilla August as M'Lynn, Melinda Kinnaman as Shelby, Suzanne Reuter as Ouiser, Linda Ulvaeus as Annelle and Gunilla Nyroos as Clairee.

Thomas Schlamme directed and cast included: Cindy Williams as M’Lynn, Sally Kirkland as Truvy, Elaine Stritch as Ouiser, Polly Bergen as Clairee, and Sheila McCarthy as Annelle.