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TPIE 2008: Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition


Palmarum

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- 9:00AM: The show was open, but unlike an anticipated plant sale, there were no stampeding crowds. I feel many attendees know that the show is basically not going 'anywhere' in a hurry, so they are not in any rush to get to the convention center. Randy Strode (Agri-Starts,Inc.) took Jeff & Andrea back to his booth a few aisles over and I followed. Along the way, the classically decorated island booth owned by Excelsa Gardens, Inc., #2020 caught my eye. Exhibitor David Ringhiser is standing next to a large Cyathea cooperi, or Australian Tree Fern.

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- 9:05AM: This was one of many trips taken to visit Randy Strode in his booth at Agri-Starts, Inc. #2427. A few group photos were warranted since everyone was here at the same time, and I know very well that might not happen again during the entire show.

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- The company Agri-Starts, Inc. actually encompasses four distinct operations. Each one is privately owned and operated, kind of like a franchise. They sell high volume liner material produced through tissue culture. Those plant trays underneath the sign are samples of how the material is sold. They had more under the tablecloth and if you were lucky, they might have given you a tray. The large plants decorating the booth were samples of what the finished and fully-grown plants would look like.

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- Jeff Searle and Randy Strode go way back to the 'olden' days of horticulture. I forget how long they have known each other, but between them, the story telling never seems to let up. I took a few photos of the pair and Randy had his eyes closed in every one of them.

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Ryan

South Florida

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After the typical TPIE, "visit to your booth, come to mine later" greeting with Randy Strode, we decided to head back to home base. Many times during the show, there is the obligatory 'visiting of the booths'. If you go to someone's display, usually in turn they come to yours, and back and forth, back and forth...

- 9:07AM: "I come in peace." An alien made out of iron greeted us at front of a strange looking booth, while it served as a brochure holder. He, or It belonged to exhibitor #2337, Five Star Imports/Manley Nursery, Inc. There was a large spaceship made from the same metal in the center of the booth, but photos of that are coming later.

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- 9:11AM: Ortanique was along the way, and we just have to stop and talk to Joseph, each time. :)Jeff and Joseph have this friendly banter and it is fun to watch them throw it back and forth at each other. With Joseph behind the camera, Travis, Jeff, Andrea, Braden and myself got together and posed under the Ortanique banner.

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- 9:58AM: After about an hour of manning the booth, we got the urge to head upstairs to the 'Palm Room' and explore the newer exhibits. The second floor displays in the Palm Room were mostly done by first time exhibitors at TPIE. They have to wait in line to get a booth downstairs; basically if an exhibitor drops out, they can then move down to the main auditorium. It is not a guarantee, but that is an easy way of describing what happens. First booth to capture both mine and Jeff's attention was Rite In The Rain, #B506. They sell and supply all-weather writing paper in all forms of journals, note pads, and books along with correspondingly-sized holders. The paper, covers, bindings, glue, etc. are all completely waterproof. Exhibitor Ryan McDonald had free samples and demonstrated the usefulness of one while writing on it as it was submerged in water. The company is a chief supplier to the military, but it also sells to the public in any amount. I happen to know for a fact there were two of those 'Display Only' notebooks and holders that went home with someone else at 3PM on Saturday...  :;):

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- 10:12AM: At the end of the small Palm Room, a large corner display held a vibrant array of art-deco inspired clay and porcelain containers. There were pots, urns, vases, jars, planter boxes, and waterfall sconces. Many featured a tropical palm motif and were decorated with tile. Like I've mentioned before, shopping at TPIE is almost a sub-event onto itself. Many exhibitors like Interstate Wholesale, Inc., #B101 are more than happy to sell items at a great discount, especially ones that are heavy.

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Ryan

South Florida

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- 10:12AM: Interstate Wholesale, Inc., #B101 had stacks and stacks of pots to look through. The larger pots had some nice tiled designs on them and some were nice enough to tag for late Saturday removal.

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- 10:33AM: Back downstairs in our booth, the activity in the show was starting to pick up quite a bit. A meeting of the minds took place as a few giants of the industry happen to come to the booth all at the same time. On the left, Randy Strode of Agri-Starts, Inc. came by to return the visit from earlier while Jeff talked with Kevin Kraft of Kraft Gardens, Inc. and Gary Hennen of Oglesby Plants International, Inc.

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- 10:49AM: The surprises kept on coming throughout Friday morning and afternoon. I was listening in on a conversation Jeff was having with an attendee when I turned around to notice palm biologist Dr. Scott Zona, Jatmi & Dr. John Dransfield waiting to talk with Jeff. His reaction to seeing them was memorable. Scott had brought John to TPIE, as neither of them had ever attended the show before. John was still in town after giving his presentation at Fairchild TB Gardens on the 16th, a few days prior. Jeff and I talked with them for as long as we could until they had to return to exploring the show. The highlight of the week for sure.

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- 12:01PM: Halfway through Friday, this area of the auditorium got really busy. We welcomed Forum member Rob van der Borg (Borgy230) to the booth just before lunchtime. I had to get everyones photo next to the Carpoxylon macrospermum, I could not help myself.

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Ryan

  • Upvote 1

South Florida

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Great picture show,thanks for taking the time to share !!!!!!

Melbourne Beach, Florida on the barrier island -two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and 6 homes from the Indian River Lagoon

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- 12:02PM: Jeff and I shared a welcomed visit with long time friend, veteran grower and Forum member Dale Holton (MAPU 1). I forgot how many different things we talked about, since we had not seen him since the Palm Beach Fall Sale last year. I still remember looking through Dale's booth at sales over 17 years ago.

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- 1:03PM: After lunch, I took a gamble and hiked upstairs to the center section of overlooking rooms to see if they were unlocked. I lucked out and found one door left open. Inside, I was able to catch a view of the main auditorium showing the left two-thirds of exhibits. This was a much wider view compared to the previous photos. The aisles were a bit thin with attendees, since they were all out at lunch. Even now I can make out a few booths I didn't visit.

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- 1:05PM: I turned towards the right a bit, to capture the 700 and 600 Aisles showing the immediate area around the Searle Brothers Nursery, Inc.(#737) booth, our neighbors essentially. Our booth is at the top of the photo, just to the right of the 700 aisle banner. Oglesby Plants International (#603), one of TPIE's oldest exhibitors, had their booth right near the front entrance, right off the main walkway. This was considered 'prime real estate' in the show. My luck, the side of their neon sign facing me wasn't working. The next booth on the other side of Oglesby's belonged to East Marsh Nursery, Inc., #609.

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- I zoomed in further towards our booth, to try and capture some details. Our exhibit of palms is at the top of the photo, in between the banner and the popular lemonade and roasted nut concessions. You can make out the fronds belonging to the Caryota no and Carpoxylon macrospermum. Those brightly lit clusters of orchids and bromeliads on the right form the display owned by DeLeon's Bromeliads, #620.

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Ryan

  • Upvote 1

South Florida

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- 1:14PM: The weather for Friday could not have been better. The highs were in the low 80s, and there was a stiff breeze now and then coming in from the ocean. Those coconut palms were living it up. This was taken from the third floor, showing a bit of glare.

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- 1:56PM: In addition to familiar faces just showing up at the booth, we also received numerous phone calls from friends who wanted to come to TPIE and visit everyone. Author, photographer and palm collector Paul Humann arrived just before two o'clock to see what was new at the show. He is on the right talking with Andrea, while Jeff explains how large the leaf gets on the Coccoloba rugosa to an attendee.

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- 2:15PM: The parade of recognizable faces continued unabated. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden sent their delegation consisting of Researcher Harvey Bernstein and Jason Lopez. We talked about the upcoming spring and summer events at the garden.

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- 2:54PM: "All your base are belong to us." Travis Searle (Paintball Guy) tries out the space ship I mentioned earlier. This was the centerpiece of the exhibit created by Five Star Imports/Manley Nursery, Inc., #2337. He tried his best to get it off the ground, but no go.

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Ryan

South Florida

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- 3:16PM: Since I covered the beginning of the Travis space program, I wanted to return to the 'Palm Room' upstairs and take a second look at some of the newer booths. Right near the door, a booth took the title for the most intriguing. If you do not like the creepy, slimy, and infectious, do turn away. APHIS, the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service division of the USDA, had quite a spread of the strange and weird. They were showing how they protect the country's economy and safe keep the nation's diverse agriculture. Keeping the next possible pest invasion at bay is as good a reason as any. Try to absorb as much of the booth as you can, as I am pretty sure they won't be back next year.

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- It was like looking through a witch doctor's private stash. This was a collection of actual material they had seized before it had a chance to enter the country. The officer said every thing had a story behind it, some bizarre and others that just made you go "Eww...".

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- This was just a very small fraction of what they had in storage. Almost every insect family had several representatives on the table and in their collection. They had a few bugs you did not want to wake up in bed with. The box in the lower right corner had fish scales that were found fresh and were from an endangered species. Those rather shiny insects in the black frame, lower left center, were jeweled bugs. Some of them were encrusted with real gem stones. This would have been a real treat for any of you who are into entomology.

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- Time to go three steps past bizarre. This is a real, giant earthworm from Colombia. The jar is about a foot (30cm) in height. This was seized from a woman coming into the country at Miami International Airport. It was hidden in her luggage, well kind of. She was planning on taking it home, chopping it up into pieces, and then was going to apply it to her face as a facemask. I respect the art of indigenous medicine and ethnobotany, but she claimed it was just for removing wrinkles. APHIS said no, and left her to look upon other measures to look younger.

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Ryan

South Florida

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Before the show came to an end, I wanted to make a point of capturing the TPIE booth award winners before I had forgotten. These unique plants, products and booth displays were some of the most interesting and diverse I had yet seen. In the past, the weekend had flown on by before I thought of to visit the winners. I quickly ran out of time late on Friday to get the majority photographed, so I made it the first thing to do on Saturday morning.

- 3:28PM: The award for Most Unusual Plant Specimen went to exhibitor #2104, Boynton Botanicals for their very freaky looking Euphorbia stenoclada. They had mentioned they added the plant to their booth at the last minute, just because "It looked weird". Like how Eric had mentioned, it was very unusual looking and catches your attention even if you try to walk past it.

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- 4:16PM: From one booth visit to another, attendee to attendee, the rather busy Friday afternoon of TPIE was coming to a close. Friends continued to appear at the booth up until the closing moments of the show. Before we left for the day, we ran that mental checklist of who we saw, what new plants made us look twice and which booths we needed to go back to on Saturday. The first two days of the event went by too fast for this industry addict.

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- 4:42PM: "Zzzz..." The day didn't go by fast enough for some people, but it was a long day including the traveling and traffic involved. Travis and I went to the midnight premiere of the movie "Cloverfield" the night before and I enjoyed it immensely.

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Only Saturday remains...

Ryan

South Florida

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The morning of the third day of TPIE is always the most relaxed, yet can hide one of the busiest show afternoons yet to come. With no weekday traffic to contend with, we quickly made our way to the convention center; after a few important stops along the way. We spent the early morning getting some brochures ready, watering the plants and then I continued my quest to record the show award winners.

- Saturday, 9:05AM: The first award-winning booth I arrived to held the highest award and was also the closest. The TPIE 2008 Best of Show Award went to Hermann Engelmann Greenhouses, Inc. (#727) of Apopka, Florida. They had a very colorful and contemporary booth design that had an open layout. They were our island neighbor to the east.

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- The awards themselves were of a very elegant glass design. They were very impressive in person, but since they were mostly transparent, it was a bit difficult to photograph them.

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- The display was trying to recreate a living space, like part of a living room and dining area. Their main market is the retail supply of interior plants. They had countless varieties of hanging basket plants and interior foliage combination planters.

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- 9:06AM: Their material showed that quite a bit of care went into the production of each and every plant. They were very proud of their award, polishing it with a small cloth just before I would take a photo. They were not keen on answering questions about how they designed the booth. I figured like most large companies they outsourced the design process to someone else.

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Ryan

South Florida

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- 9:06AM: Next door to the above Best of Show display, was the largest booth of the entire show which belonged to Kerry's / Twyford International, #429. They won Best Island Exhibit, 1st Place. They are essentially two companies now under the same ownership. This mega island booth was 80 feet (24m) long by 20 feet (6m) wide and was impossible to photograph entirely. To get an island booth this size at TPIE, you need to fork out $18,000. That is just for floor space and doesn't pay for lighting, overhead signs, etc. The display featured very well lit sub-sections of decorative shelving and bountiful displays split in the middle between the two companies. Kerry's mainly deals with full grown bromeliads and orchids. That ribbon in front towards the left is for another award coming up and for some reason they didn't put it on the plant in question.

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- 9:07AM: Twyford International, is a well known tissue culture lab that has been in the micro-propagation field for a long time. They make liners of many, many different foliage plants. In addition to the sample trays of liners they also had several full grown plants on display. One of which was about to become more famous than the others.

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- The award was very hard to see in the photo. It seemed to go out of phase with the wood paneling behind it. Kerry's bought out Twyford International a little while back, but they keep both companies running separately.

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- 9:08AM: This fascinating Aglaonema cv. 'Pink Sapphire' [PP] was introduced at this year's show in the New Plants & Products Showcase. It had a great following by those who noticed it. It become even more popular with everyone after it won Favorite New Foliage Plant of 2008. I still do not know why they didn't put the ribbon on it.

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Ryan

South Florida

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Back from Key West, the photos worth posting are piling up, but one topic at a time...

- 9:10AM: Exhibitor #1120, First Foliage won the award for Best Island Booth, 2nd Place. It had a real open design, with purple objects of all kinds. The theme of the booth was 'recycling'.

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- They had a nice spread of both foliage and flowering plants.

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- 9:14AM: Moving down the list of awards, the winner of Best 300 Sq. Ft and Larger Booth, 1st Place went to the palm heavy display created by Acosta Farms, #2635.

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- Their booth was quite large and they have always been in the far corner of the main auditorium.

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Ryan

South Florida

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- 9:15AM: Acosta Farms had a few new product lines on display this year. The assortments on the left, decorating the tiered display were made of all sorts of palms, cycads and other plants. The sides of the booth were flanked with two, triple Christmas Palms, Adonidia merrillii. The islands were bordered with retaining wall block and created a nice landscaped feel to the booth.

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- The sitting area towards the back of the booth was very inviting. I asked if those palm decorated rattan chairs were for sale and got a comical "No" in response.

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- Standing next to those chairs, I gazed upon the back of the booth which held the mainstay products of Acosta Farms. They deal mainly with large production of the more common species of palms and other plants.

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- 9:17AM: I had a list of the award winners with me, so finding them was quite easy. Out of Sarasota, Florida came the winning exhibitors of the Best 300 sq. ft or Larger Booth, 2nd Place, Suntory/Sun-Fire Nurseries, #2616. Their use of lighting and bright, contrasting colors really made your eyes stick to the display.  

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Ryan

South Florida

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- 9:17AM: The exhibitors of Suntory/Sun-Fire Nurseries were quite surprised by their award, but were very happy about it nonetheless. They seem to supply a wide range of material, from liners to large containerized plants.

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- 9:19AM: Now on to the little booths, where the presentation of large amounts of stuff crammed together is an art form. The award for Best 100 sq. ft Booth, 1st Place went to Rush Creek Designs, Inc., #2720. Custom forms of different plastic and ceramic containers filled the small, 10x10 ft (3x3m) booth. Those rainbow colored pots on the left were made of a high-impact plastic that is not supposed to break. That is a challenge if I've ever heard one. It is time for a little "Find the Award" puzzle. Can you spot the award in the photo?

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- 9:24AM: Koen Pack USA, #3011 won the 2nd Place Award for Best 100 sq. ft. Booth. There is a world of packing and wrapping material out there that I never knew about.

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- 9:29AM: The fight for the mid-size, or 10x20 ft (3x6m) booth awards is highly competitive; as it is one of the more popular booth sizes. The award for Best 200 sq. ft Booth, 1st Place went to Bullis Bromeliads, which almost anyone could have foreseen. The photos of their booth already in the topic can attest to how well their exhibit was designed. The 2nd Place Award for Best 200 sq. ft Booth was given to Temkin International, Inc., #2930. They are a major supplier of packaging and wrapping material for retail supply companies.  

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Ryan

South Florida

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Rush Creeks trophy. Top right hand shelf.

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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BS, Man about Palms • Posted on Feb. 15 2008,00:03

Rush Creeks trophy. Top right hand shelf.

Right on, Bill. I was standing in the middle of the booth, not three feet from it and turned to ask the exhibitor where the award was.

- With all the new items on display throughout the show, the judges chose these new Poly Pebbles to win the ribbon for Favorite New Product. These pebbles are made from recycled propylene plastic and look and feel just like stone, but are much lighter. They are available in just two colors at the moment. Developer Primescape Products Co., #237, mentioned that they will last for many years and are ideal for ponds, water features and for dressing the top of containers.

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- 9:31AM: This strange new species of Medinilla that looks more like coral from a reef, won the award for Favorite New Flowering Plant. Hawaiian Sunshine Nursery, #2952, presented the Medinilla scortechinii to the industry for the first time and came away with a ribbon. The actual ribbon was M.I.A. as the exhibitors didn't know where it went.

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- This is their booth with the Medinilla scortechinii plants on the top of the center display. They have always been up against the wall in the front section of the auditorium and many attendees have come to notice their vibrant booth creations over the years.

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- 10:09AM: After finishing with all the award winners of 2008, I welcomed a short break so I made it back to home base. I came across nurseryman and landscaper Stan Wood talking with Frank Searle.

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Ryan

South Florida

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This Medinilla has been around along time now, it's really not new. You rarely see it around because it dosen't grow here in South Florida very well. I tried them many years ago from some I brought back from Hawaii. Some of the others do much better for us here.

Jeff

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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Was there a best aloha shirt award at all ?

I have just read this thread all the way through for the first time, very well done and thank you Ryan and others.

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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- 10:18AM: When you attend TPIE, you never know who you might meet or which friends you will see again. Jeff and I first met Dr. Kiat Tan during the last day of the Color Conference that was held during the first week of June, back in 2006. It was a meeting of flowering tree experts from around the world. It was held at the Kampong, David Fairchild's former residence, down in Miami. I managed to squeeze in on the last day to get some photos, meet some fascinating people such as Dr. Tan, and learn about some of the newer flowering trees making their way into gardens. Fast forward to this day at TPIE, Dr. Tan was in town looking for material for his Gardens by the Bay project in Singapore. He is the Chief Advisor to the National Parks Board and the Project Director of his grand Gardens by the Bay endeavor.

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- Dr. Tan's assistant, Robert Pope handles the material before it becomes bound for Singapore. There is a holding nursery set up somewhere in South Florida that grows the selected plants before they are needed. When a particular section of the Gardens by the Bay is being planted, then the plants are shipped on over.

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- 10:46AM: Another door left unlocked yields a new perspective. Saturday morning slowly starts to see more and more attendees.

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- 10:56AM: In between checking on what might be for sale and browsing the books again, I decided I should take some exterior shots of the convention center. Making my way down stairs to go outside, I noticed the light was good for a 'through the window' view of the convention center entrance.

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Ryan

  • Upvote 1

South Florida

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Wal · Posted on Feb. 15 2008,13:19

Was there a best aloha shirt award at all ?

I have just read this thread all the way through for the first time, very well done and thank you Ryan and others.

Thanks Wal, there was a board in the lobby that listed the winners of the Best Aloha shirt awards. There were a few different prizes, the largest being a hefty gift certificate to a nearby hotel. When I tracked down a winner or two, they weren't wearing the shirts anymore.

Ryan

South Florida

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- 11:10AM: The Broward County Convention Center in all its palm fringed glory. I wanted to make sure I took these exterior shots since I had always run out of time before.

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- The large bronze water feature was titled "Marlin in Three Stages of Flight". It was churning and moving a great deal of water back and forth. I tried to get Travis to slide on down the water slope but he would not do it.

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- I took this wider angle to include more of the palms and that unmistakable Ft. Lauderdale metro bus. The color scheme was created by Broward County Transit to make sure tourists could find the buses... even if they were blind.

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- 11:26AM: A quick flurry of activity takes place in the booth as attendees come in to ask questions, pick up a brochure, or just wait in line to talk to Jeff, Larry or Frank (Pops). This is the last photo before lunch time on Saturday. This was also the time when some exhibitors, who haven't sold anything, start making some deals to lighten their load. Certain booths demand a second look when the prices begin to drop.

2008-01-19_11-26-08.jpg

Ryan

South Florida

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- 1:17PM: Positioned right in front of the auditorium entrance, is one of the first palm rich booths you would come across and it belonged to Southeast Growers, Inc., #301. They had an island exhibit and they packed it full with palms, rare fruit trees and other exotic tropicals. In one corner, was a familiar specimen from last year, a tall Livistona rotundifolia. It had a nice glow about the leaves and the internodes on the trunk were like mirrors.

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- The bottom of the L. rotundifolia was surrounded by Licuala grandis and Johannesteijsmannia altifrons.

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- 1:18PM: The interior areas of the display were filled pot to pot with palm favorites. All the palm species in this photo are too numerous to name. The care taken to fit each plant next to each other looked time consuming, but it was fun to look at. This photo would be a nice choice to make a suicidal 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

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- This is a wider view showing the center of the exhibit.

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Ryan

South Florida

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"....and when we were in California, Ken Johnson gave MattyB a hug just like this.  Accept his hands were a little bit lower." ???

post--1203109828_thumb.jpg

Matt Bradford

"Manambe Lavaka"

Spring Valley, CA (8.5 miles inland from San Diego Bay)

10B on the hill (635 ft. elevation)

9B in the canyon (520 ft. elevation)

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(Palmarum @ Feb. 16 2008,05:42)

QUOTE
Wal · Posted on Feb. 15 2008,13:19

Was there a best aloha shirt award at all ?

I have just read this thread all the way through for the first time, very well done and thank you Ryan and others.

Thanks Wal, there was a board in the lobby that listed the winners of the Best Aloha shirt awards. There were a few different prizes, the largest being a hefty gift certificate to a nearby hotel. When I tracked down a winner or two, they weren't wearing the shirts anymore.

Ryan

:D  I was joking and they actually did make this award ?  :laugh:  :laugh:  I wish I was there in the hunting  ???

Jeff's Carpoxylon and that Livisitona rotundafolia are the picks for me.

Thanks again.

Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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- 1:20PM: This Arenga hookeriana was so neat looking, that it needed a few additional photos. Those large undivided leaves are just so interesting to look at. They are shiny deep green above and bright silvery-white beneath.

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- 1:57PM: A TPIE tradition takes place each year about an hour before closing time on Saturday. A handful of FNGLA staff members get together upstairs in the Palmroom and they raffle off the unusual flower arrangements found throughout the lobby area. With a few business cards in hand I ran upstairs to try my luck at winning one of them.

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- 2:01PM: This was one of the first ones to be raffled, a coral reef inspired piece. It had all kinds of small things stuck inside. I waited until the last card was pulled but no luck this time. There was only an hour left of TPIE at this point and before I went downstairs, I slowly began to collect my purchases and made my way back to the booth. You cannot leave the auditorium with anything, but if you happen to have a booth you can move stuff to it.

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- 4:02PM: Two hours had passed, and we survived the frenzy that concludes the show. It was hard to photograph while cleaning, packing, avoiding forklifts and moving rolls of carpet. The plants get carted on out to the loading dock to be put on the trailer, while the smaller items get bagged. An hour after closing, most of the aisle carpeting has been pulled up leaving just the concrete. Some exhibitors that travel from show to show just wrap their stuff with plastic or place everything into large containers and then call it a day. The bulk is then shipped on to the next show, where ever it may be. With the proximity to the loading dock, our booth gets loaded onto the truck and trailer quite easily. You also have to wait in line to get your order number to bring your truck on in to the convention center. The line may start as early as three in the morning.

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Ryan

South Florida

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Wal • Posted on Feb. 15 2008,17:06

...I was joking and they actually did make this award ?  :laugh:  :laugh:  I wish I was there in the hunting  ???...

Wal,

Yes, it was started last year I believe to try and make Thursday a more casual day during the event. Not everyone partakes in the contest, but you can expect to see some vibrant shirts on the first day. With some of the ones I've seen you wear, you would definitely be in the running to win.

Ryan

South Florida

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- 4:29PM: After the last, few larger palms were loaded onto the trailer and we gathered up our spoils from shopping, we then double checked the booth for anything we might have left behind. That was Travis's exciting job. In just a few days the auditorium will be reconfigured to fit the needs of the next tradeshow the following weekend.

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- With our hands and memory cards full we bid bon voyage to this TPIE and thought about what the next palm adventure had in store for everyone...

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I will still say, over and over again, that three days is not enough to take in all of what TPIE has to offer. There were simply too many exhibits and too little time. Every year you add more booths to your personal list of 'must visits' and this doesn't help when the show length remains constant. A key part of TPIE is always the people. When you come to recognize friends and familiar exhibitors from year to year, the show becomes more personal. I saw the effect of the economy in the emotions and attitudes of many exhibitors and attendees. I heard reports of downsizing, nurseries cutting back on production and the overall excess of material available. There is no shortage of plants and supply materials out there. We will see how 2008 shapes up in the annals of the tropical plant industry.

>-<

Ryan

South Florida

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