2017 TPIE Cool Product Awards roundup

The 2017 Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE) featured products and plants from more than 400 exhibitors at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. This year's event took place Jan. 18 - Jan. 20, and tours and education sessions were also offered for attendees Jan. 17. Look for highlights from those events soon.

Each year, The Garden Center Group collaborates with TPIE and the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA), which operates the show, to showcase some of the most innovative and impressive new products and plants exhibited. The 2017 TPIE Cool Product Awards were selected by a panel of judges, who include retail buyers. This year's winners included plants, products and even a new delivery option. Check out the honorees below:

New Drop-In Christmas Greens Collection        
Bayview Flowers
www.bayviewflowers.com

Retail buyers liked the ready-to-sell live Christmas Greens arrangements that would be easy to drop into inventoried decorative pots and have immediate sale.

New Creative Package for Christmas Impulse Purchase        
Bottomley Evergreens
www.bottomleysevergreens.com

Bottomley Evergreens is a supplier of small and large Christmas greens (including cut Christmas trees) but they have created a unique package for a Christmas tradition, Mistletoe. Called “Pucker-Up," The combination of Mistletoe and other Christmas greens into a small spray is just right for impulse sales.

New Decorative “Travel Collection” Containers        
Braun Horticulture, Inc.
www.braungroup.com

Braun has introduced a new line of small containers reminiscent of vintage luggage. All have a plastic liner that lifts out, and these are ideal for combining with succulents and other small dish garden type combinations for retail sales. Be sure to also check out their bookshelf series as well.

Cryptanthus ‘Absolute Zero’ provides designs in Black and Whites     
Bullis Bromeliads
www.bullisbrom.com

Bullis Bromeliads is widely known for their colorful bromeliads. Now they are presenting a new option for decorating with plants … black and white. Cryptanthus are well known for their star-like shaped forms and bright colors. They are popular as ground covers in landscape and desktop decorations. 'Absolute Zero' is a startling look, especially in mass. 

Aglaonema ‘Spring Snow’        
Capri Farms, Inc.
www.caprifarms.com

'Spring Snow' offers great contrast in color and is the result of years of trials and breading by Lincoln Chin. While the plant was introduced a couple years ago, production will make more plants available. Aglaonema are commonly referred to as Chinese Evergreen and are often used in interior landscapes due to their attractive appearance and tolerance of poor lighting conditions.

Guzmania ‘Francesca’        
DeRoose Plants, Inc.
www.derooseplants.com

Guzmania is a form of Bromelaids and DeRoose is showing one with striking color. Paul told us Guzmania ‘Francesca’ is the result of much work to produce such great color.

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Ficus microcarpa ‘Moclame’        
Farm Life Tropical Foliage, Inc.
www.farmlifenursery.com

Farm Life Nursery presented a Ficus microcarpa ‘Moclame’ in a 17-inch standard, offering interiorscapers a great plant to design around.

New designs for 2017 – Grapevine Balls, Glass House and Galvanized Dish Gardens        
Flori-Design, Inc.
www.flori-design.com

Flori-Design is consistently creating new combinations of containers and small plants with the goal of retail success in mind. These three new designs for 2017 each capitalize on trends consumers are buying. The Grapevine Ball is pictured below.

New Tools for Interiorscapers/Architects – Benefits of designing Moss Walls        
Green Plants for Green Buildings
www.gpgb.org

Green Plants for Green Buildings has created a new training tool for interiorscapers to utilize in presenting concepts and benefits for moss walls in new building designs. This can help architects to better understand design options on this green trend.

New Wooden Hanging Gardens        
Guaqueta USA
www.guaqueta.com

Guaqueta USA is primarily a seller of tropical plants from Central and South America, however, the company featured an innovative hanging garden kit, which was designed by Fernando & Maria Pardo. The wooden kits are available in several shapes and colors.

New FedEx Ground Options from Heart of Florida        
Heart of Florida Greenhouses, Inc.
www.heartplants.com

Heart of Florida normally unveils new tropical plants at TPIE. This year, they revealed a new way to get those plants to retailers in smaller, more frequent shipments, while keeping freight costs lower. Austin Bryant, who handles sales for the company, demonstrated how the new FedEx grown pack allows for a variety of plants and packing combinations on a palletized unit.

New Hollywood Hibiscus Series        
J. Berry Nursery
www.jberrynursery.com

The team at J. Berry Nursery has introduced a series of new hibiscus that are full, compact and showcases vivid, large, fancy blooms with rich color, while also possessing exceptional disease and pest resistance.

Air Necklace, Living Locket, and Thinkers         
LiveTrends Designs Group, LLC/SK USA
www.sk-usa.com

LiveTrends has been a consistent source for new ways to introduce plants to consumers through their combinations of plants and creative containers. This year, retail buyers recognized three new products, including their air lockets, pictured below.

Colored Moss         
Mossman, Inc.
www.mossmaninc.com
 
Mossman presents a number of types of moss for retailers to utilize, but the new option this year is new bright colors that are colorfast, meaning they don’t bleed. They offer several options in sizes along with a number of colors.

New HydraFiber – a revolutionary media product         
Oldcastle Lawn & Garden
www.myoldcastle.com
 
Oldcastle Lawn & Garden has teamed up with Profile Products to introduce a new media component that can help decrease the need for two non-renewable resources, peat and perlite. HydraFiber, a product of southern pine, combines water-holding and aeration capabilities to medias. Because of the patented, thermally refined process, HydraFiber, features fiber strands that have tremendous surface area. Compared to a standard peat/perlite mix, a peat/HydraFiber mix delivers around 10 percent more available water and 30 percent more compared to peat/coir blends.

Croton Petra Standard        
United Nursery, Inc.
www.unitednursery.com

United Nursery had an exemplary exhibit, called "Plants in the City," with a New York City theme complete with doorways and stoops. One plant that stood out to judges was a Croton Petra grown as a standard, allowing for other plants to accompany it below. While the plant was not new, having it on a standard gave new options to show off the striking foliage color.