A tropical escape

Calypso music and beautiful tropical foliage greeted more than 6,100 professionals as they entered the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. for the 39th annual Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE). The show was put on January 18-20 by the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association Inc. (FNGLA).

"TPIE is always an exciting show,” said Charlie Martin, owner of HB Martin Inc. and TPIE chairman. “This year the mood was even more upbeat as people are finally feeling a turn in the economy. Our attendance was up by 8 percent, orders were being written and buyers were excited by the products they saw. The fabulous weather didn’t hurt either.”

Attendees took in the newest tropical plants, products and ideas from nearly 400 exhibiting companies. TPIE exhibitors set the standard for exciting and inspiring exhibits.

“It’s a challenging job to be a booth award judge at TPIE,” said Robert Bowden, executive director of Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando and one of TPIE’s booth award judges. “There are so many exceptional displays.  I wish we could give them all awards.” 

This year’s “Best of Show” award went to DeRoose Plants, Apopka, Fla. A complete list of award winners is available on the TPIE website.

TPIE is well-known as the trade event for exhibitors to premier their newest plants and products. Many of these are included in the TPIE Exhibitor Showcase. Buyers can vote for their favorite new items. This year’s winning favorites are: favorite new flowering plant, Medinilla magnifica, by Northland Floral, Ontario, Canada; favorite new foliage plant, Calathea lancifolia, Stewart’s Greenhouse, Apopka, Fla.; favorite new product, Xanadu Collection, Wesnic, Jacksonville, Fla. A complete list of new plants and products is available on the TPIE website.

In addition to the trade show, attendees were able to attend a complimentary TPIE opening session, featuring industry futurist Doug Stephens, who shared insights related to social, economic and technological trends that will impact everyone’s business this decade.

"Doug's vision of the future trends, who our target customer should be and the evolving technologies available to position our company for success was very enlightening and exciting,” said Bill Lyden, president of Farm Life Tropical Foliage. “This year’s opening session had a meaningful message for our entire industry and was a fabulous way to kick-off the 2012 TPIE."

Some attendees opted to go beyond the opening session and participate in the TPIE Short Course, a series of seminars that included both a management and technician track. The management track introduced participants to biomimicry, a process of applying nature’s solutions to human design applications. In addition, sessions with Jason Cupp, a business growth consultant, provided insights on creating the best internal team, as well as improving external sales with new marketing methods. Technician sessions were also popular as they focused on biological pest controls, including a hands-on workshop. 

Short course participants also heard Dennis Snow, a former Walt Disney World manager, provide an entertaining luncheon keynote that offered fun and inspirational examples of exceptional customer service from world-class organizations.

Offered as an optional event to the TPIE Short Course, the TPIE Road Show took off the day before the show began and was a full-day tour that took attendees to Homestead, Fla., a major foliage production hub. The trip had about 80 attendees and included visits to Farm Life Tropical Foliage, Bernecker’s Nursery, Schnebly Redland's Winery, Kerry’s and Burr’s Berry Farm.

TPIE 2013 will take place January 23-25 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

For more: TPIE, www.tpie.org; FNGLA, www.fngla.org or (800) 375-3642

Photo courtesy of FNGLA