Florida Shines Southeast
September 22, 2008 The sun was definitely shining on Florida at this year’s Southeast Greenhouse Conference & Trade Show, June 21-24 in Greenville, S.C.
Terri Bates Cantwell of caladium grower Bates Sons & Daughters in Lake Placid, Fla., chaired the event. Ben Bolusky, executive director of Florida Nursery Growers & Landscape Association, received the conference’s Horticulture Initiative Award for all he has done to champion growers in the Gulf States and beyond to secure hurricane relief and greater understanding and appreciation from government entities on state, local and national levels. His care and concern through recent crises have allowed the problems related to the green industry to be heard by those in positions of power to help.
Another hurricane survivor, Kerry Herndon of Kerry’s Bromeliads in Homestead, Fla., was the keynote speaker. He recently purchased Twyford Laboratories and sported his new lab coat. Covering the topic, “Managing Your Business In The 21st Century,” he shared his journey in business the last 20 years, the importance of embracing continuing education and modern methods, and most of all–managing your business based on facts, not emotion and tradition.
14 Years Strong
More than 2,800 growers and industry representatives attended the conference. In addition to preconference tours to the University of Georgia’s trial gardens and area growing operations and garden centers, three days of educational tracks were offered for growers, retailers and landscapers.
“The mission of the SGC is to enhance the profitability of the floriculture industry by providing a high-quality educational program and trade show,” Cantwell says. “This year, we saw a 7 percent increase in grower attendance for our educational programs. Those numbers say to us 2006 was certainly on target to meet our mission.”
One of the best sessions was “Greenhouse Technology From Opposite Ends,” presented by our 2005 Grower of the Year Lloyd Traven of Peace Tree Farm in Kintersville, Pa., and Abe Van Wingerden of Metrolina Greenhouses, Huntersville, N.C. While Traven’s operation is 60,000 square feet, Van Wingerden’s is well over 100 acres. Instead of each taking an hour to describe their businesses, together they compared and contrasted the use of technology in their operations at the same time in a fun, tag-team approach. What was amazing is how much of what they do is similar for the same reasons but on a different scale. Even some of the equipment was the same.
Another valuable set of sessions was under the topic, “Are You Losing Money?” Brian Whipker of North Carolina State University presented ways to track production costs and apply overhead to a common crop like pansies. Forrest Stegelin of the University of Georgia focused on ways to trim overhead and ways not to do it. And Charles Hall from the University of Tennessee focused on tracking your business’s performance using benchmarking, a very effective tool in all industries.
Crazy For Containers
New this year on the trade show floor was a mixed container competition for both attendees and exhibitors. The rallying cry the weeks before the event to stir up competition amongst the most diehard Southeast volunteers was, “Container geeks, get your game on!” The winning entry was an old wheelbarrow overflowing with innovative plants from Alan Shapiro at Grandiflora Nursery in Gainesville, Fla.
Those who received honorable mention were Rita Randolph of Randolph’s Greenhouses in Jackson, Tenn.; Cindy Shaw of Between Nursery in Monroe, Ga.; Carole Barton of Barton’s Nursery and Greenhouse in Alabaster, Ala.; and Vandy Vanderstelt of Lamar, S.C.
Dishing Up Dialogue
Back by popular demand, the fifth annual Southeast Industry Luncheon, sponsored by Fafard and Greenhouse Grower and sister magazine Today’s Garden Center, generated great dialogue between the audience and our panelists on ways we can better market our industry on a grassroots level, as well as strategies for independent garden centers and growers to work together. This year’s “Declaring Independence!” panel included: Rick Woodley of Woodley’s Garden Center in Columbia, S.C.; Cliff Myers of Barton’s Nursery and Greenhouse in Alabaster, Ala.; Bill Hotz of Oglevee in Douglas, Ga.; and Chuck Carter of A Growing Concern in Henderson, N.C. Contributing Editor Allan Armitage of the University of Georgia moderated.
Armitage also was a big draw on the tradeshow floor presenting a 90-minute seminar in the Garden Center Showcase called “Armitage Unleashed!” First, he visited exhibitors to see their plants and take pictures of select items and people working booths. Then he presented the plants on stage and added comparison photos of the same plants in his garden.
For more information about the conference, visit www.sgcts.org.
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