Not an actual plant sale, but billed as a Trade Show & Symposium, (though all the vendors were selling there plants & goods). It is a fantastic and quintessential horticulture event in the NYC metro area. It is composed of plant exhibitors, lectures by top horticulturalist, top garden book author signings, and so on. Since the NYC Flower Show ended about 20 years ago there was a vacuum left for the city. The Metro Hort Group decided to fill the void with Plant-O-Rama. With the guidance of Bob Hyland and Margaret Roach among others, they helped bring a substantial plant event to the public again. Good friends of the farm and founder Bob Hyland is still the event manager and with Charles Yurgalevitch on the board they are helping keep this special gathering alive.
We here at Snug decided to participate for many reasons; but more so to make connections with our fellow horticulturist old and new as well as to let NYC that SHF is here in Maine & doing great things in the gardening realm. We are not that far away and want to share all that we have to offer; not to mention the fact we have been in business for over 20 years and we are here to stay!
So if you could not make it to this gathering this year, this is a little synopsis of the day for you.
I arrived late Monday afternoon from Maine at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens' beautiful glass Palm House. My little blue Subaru Outback Sport was packed to the gills with topiaries, succulents, pottery, ferns, etc.. Emily, Karen, Stacey and Patty on the farm meticulously pruned, trimmed, re-potted, re-staked and so on to every plant that was brought down to NYC. I quickly dropped them off on the table doing quick ass mock-ups and returned refreshed in the morning the day of the show. I arrived early and created a signature Snug display with all our topiaries and the like. It really reflects Snug's aesthetic and took folks away (pictured below).
After set up, and a quick NY bagel for breakfast it was time for the first lecture. David Culp; another good friend of the farm was the keynote speaker this year. David is a highly respected gardener, author and director at Sunny Border Nurseries. His new super-cool book The Layered Garden, is filled with amazing images of his botanical compositions.
His lecture was thorough, well thought out and he posed good questions. He was funny and spot on including talking about "far out" subjects (pictured below) Ha! He was totally on point and a joy to listen to and learn from!
It was break-time and I went back to our booth to greet the mass of attendees and other vendors. There were so many great nurseries and good friends of the farm that were also exhibiting; including Broken Arrow Nursery, Rare Finds Nursery, We Dig Plants, Groundworks Inc. and Landcraft Environments (pictured below). As well as showcasing our businesses there was a positive good vibe connecting with good friends and seeing what we all have to offer to our industry.
It was a really good experience meeting new potential fans & collectors. Many if not all were shocked to learn that we traveled down from Maine. My response was that "I was originally from the NY area and that Maine is not that far". Only being 5 hours away from the city and about an hour north of Boston I was shocked to learn how many New Yorkers visit Maine and had no idea we existed; but now they know.
Besides our topiaries that intrigued everyone that was present; our succulents really stood out to folks' eyes. Our hypertufas (pictured above) were a big hit and people were amazed at their intricate detail. "Emily and crew created them right there on the farm" I told them. Our terra-cotta line was also completely showcased mossed up and all! In an addition we brought down a prototype of our new lava pot line.
It was the buzz at our booth, and as I was explaining the process and amazing qualities of the new radical line. Owner; Tony was in the Philippines sending me pictures of even more prototypes (pictured above) that he was working on so I could share them with the crowds. It was a totally fun spontaneous coincidence and a sign of our times with digital media.
Later in the afternoon it was onto the second half of the lecture series. A panel discussion titled "What Will The Future of Horticulture Look Like" was moderated by Ken Druse. It was panel comprised of five young and up incoming professionals in our field. Kelly Norris from the Des Moines Botanical Garden & Rainbow Iris Farm; Kristen DeSouza from the Allen C. Haskel Park and Jason Austin from Rare Find Nursery. They were just a few of the participants out of a total of 8 over two sessions. It was a fun and unexpected discussion with questions followed from the huge audience. Native plants, carnivorous plants, children's education and GMOs were all on the hit-list.
The show ended with a good positive energy from everyone involved. It was so great to make new connections, see old friends and debut Snug to NYC. It was time to pack up and head back to Maine, but not without this little gift from Landcraft pictured below, Begonia "Bulls Eye". On that note that was the spirit of the show; giving. Sharing knowledge whether new plants and trends, or even educating the public on where to visit in Maine were they can find a topiary or unique succulent.
A special thank you to Carmen DeVito & Charles Yurgalevitch for sharing and allowing me to post their great photos on this blog post!
Next show up; the Connecticut Flower Show this February the 20th-23rd in Hartford, hope to see you there!
Looks like it was fine time for connecting and learning! I've never been to that show and it looks great. Will you be attending NE Grows this week? I'm heading there from VT if the snow isn't too bad. Thanks for the walk-through of this show!
ReplyDelete