Finished Product

Emily's Front Yard
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Here is the almost finished pathway. I still need to get some mulch. I think it turned out pretty nicely. We've had a problem since we moved in of people using our mudroom door to come in instead of our front door (that's what you get for living in the country). I'm hoping that providing a nice attractive pathway, visitors will start using the front door.

More Free Plants

Emily's Front Yard

It's so nice working in a horticulture department. We often get free plants. A couple weeks ago, I was walking through the main office building and someone asked me to help move a box. It was full of Easter lilies! A distributor had sent them to the department chair and no one had taken any of the free bulbs. I, of course, took the whole box and shared it with my office mates - Tom, Kim, Sarah, Jen, and Georgia. I still had a bunch left over, so I decided to line a path leading to my front door with them. These are some of the bulbs. They were nice big ones. Apparently, Easter lilies, Lilium longiflorum, like to have their "heads hot and feet cool" meaning that they like to be in the sun but the bulbs like to be covered with mulch or annuals. After calling my mom from the store (she's great with that kind of stuff), I decided on red salvia and Iberis sempervirens 'Purity' or common name, purity candytuft. This is a perennial with small white flowers. I really like it. I also learned that pieces of the easter lily bulbs can be planted and should form new plants. I'm very excited about my new pathway and free plants!

Amaryllis Bulbs

macro shot of amaryllis

Before Christmas, Tom and I ordered amaryllis bulbs. We found some great online sales. I planted all of them in containers. Once I get a great showing of flowers, I'll plant the bulbs in the yard as a landscape plant. In most places in the US, amaryllis are container plants. But, in Florida, we can grow them year-round as landscape plants. They just need well-drained soil and light shade. There's a great EDIS document on amaryllis with excellent tips. I think the one pictured here is an Apple Blossom variety.

Flower Confidential author speaks at TPIE

We were able to attend one of the shortcourses at TPIE. The speaker was Amy Stewart, the author of Flower Confidential. She spoke on an outsider's view of the floral industry and how complicated it really is. Stewart spent much of her time focusing on the sustainability of the industry and the need for more organic products in the floral industry. She mentioned the growing need for certification through programs such as Veriflora. The most interesting thing (to me) that she said was that in 10 years Wal-Mart expects to be selling all green gardening products. I found this amazing. Considering she was talking with a group of horticulture growers, she kept the talk relatively positive when speaking about organics and such.

I was sitting next to my department chair, Terril Nell, for the presentation. Dr. Nell just happens to be a floriculture researcher and a past president for the Society of American Florists. He's pretty involved with all of the certification stuff and knows much more than I do. It was interesting to me to see this keynote speaker, who doesn't have much of a science background, offering recommendations on how to drastically change an industry. It was definitely an interesting talk to see.

The best booth at TPIE

Fairchild Botanical Garden 143
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Kerry's orchids had the most amazing booth at TPIE. It was very contemporary and clean. The lighting was great and the sales people were really interactive and knowledgeable. From a communications/marketing point of view, they did an awesome job of displaying their merchandise and cool products (which they had lots of). Kudos to Kerry's!

Stingray plant

Fairchild Botanical Garden 140
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

This was my favorite plant of the day -- Alocasia 'Sting Ray'. It looked just like a stingray. It's part of the Hort Couture marketing campaign. The advertisements were amazing.

TPIE & flower arrangements

Fairchild Botanical Garden 167
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Last week, Kim and I went down to the Tropical Plant Industry Expo (TPIE) in Ft. Lauderdale. We also took my sister, Alli. She's graduating in the spring and was job shopping.

We took lots of pictures while there. The FNGLA annual convention is going to be at The Breakers in June. The Breakers had several flower arrangements there on display. I really liked this one. I think Kim said it had ginger in it, but I'm not sure.