Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Look what I found today!, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
We have several different horticulture classes but I don't remember them all. I know they had an orchid display, cactus and succulent, ivy (what?), bulbs, camellias, cut flowers, and a few others. I don't mean to disparage the show - it has gotten a lot smaller over the years (probably because it is the same old thing and the economic downturn) and is also more expensive.

Some of the pro exhibits are very, very nice but you would probably need at least $50,000 to have them install something similar at your home where they lay stone, create waterworks, put in decks, masses of trees and shrubs, etc. Nice to look at but kind of impractical unless you are mega rich.

The vendors also seem a bit high. Probably because once you are inside they have you as a captive audience. I used to like buying plants at the show but now I look through the vendors hurriedly but haven't bought a thing at the last two shows I've gone to.

Now I prefer to spend money at the begonia conventions - (tours, plants, transporation, and hotel) but we get to see real gardens outdoors in warm weather and get a chance to buy begonias rarely seen in the general public (well at least we are the first chance buyers - some begonias then become mainstream in a year or two).

B. U475 at Doris Happel's home (co-chair of last year's convention in West Palm Beach).