2017 Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS)
A beautifully designed display decorating the MANTS booth of one of my wholesale suppliers.
Last week Michael and I attended the Mid-Atlantic Nursery and Trade Show (MANTS) at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland. MANTS is a yearly event in early January with over 960 exhibiting companies covering 300,000 square feet (seven acres) of the convention center and hosting 11,000 attendees. We go to MANTS not only to get ideas about new products and plants for Carolyn’s Shade Gardens, but also to discover potential new suppliers and renew acquaintances with existing suppliers. I thought you might enjoy a quick peak at what goes on at a trade show of this size.
Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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I am very excited about this new hellebore that Carolyn’s Shade Gardens will be selling in 2017. It is called ‘Molly’s White’ and is a sister plant to the best-selling ‘Penny’s Pink’. I already have it in my garden, and it’s doing quite well. My ‘Penny’s Pink’ plants have lots of buds showing right now. to read more about this newer type of hellebore, click here.
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There are many beautifully displayed plant exhibits at MANTS like the one above featuring an edgeworthia, camellias, and hellebores. It is difficult with the odd lighting to get a good photo though.
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If you start flowers and vegetables from seed, you can’t go wrong with Hart Seed Company, a 100-year-old, family owned and operated business, specializing in untreated and non-GE (genetically engineered) seed. They support independent, local nurseries by refusing to sell to big box and discount stores.
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Colonial Road, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, makes very comfortable, recycled plastic Adirondack chairs that come close to looking like the high maintenance wood version (at least if you buy it in the white shown in the poster instead of the kaleidoscope of colors displayed here). I loved my wooden Adirondack chairs but was constantly replacing rotted slats, and have you ever tried to paint one? Let me know if you are interested in seeing mine or buying any as Carolyn’s Shade Gardens can get them for you.
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It is tempting to turn to harmful chemicals when confronted by the possibility of Lyme disease or Zika virus. Thankfully you don’t need to. Here’s Mark Wilson, President of Natural Repellents LLC, holding his ground-breaking product Tick Killz, a natural insecticide made from 100% organic ingredients and safe for children, pets, beneficial insects, and the environment. It controls deer and other ticks, mosquitos, fleas, mites, and aphids, among other insects. If you spray your property, this may be the product for you, 1 oz. makes 5 gallons.
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I wouldn’t consider using anything but organic potting soil and mulch to grow vegetables for my family (and even in my perennial gardens). Coast of Maine makes 100% organic products using predominantly lobster and crab shells mixed with seaweed and blueberry bush trimmings. I have used their potting soil for containers at my family’s house in Maine with great results. Their website has a store locator to help you find local nurseries carrying their products, click here, and Whole Foods carries them.
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Unlike most nurseries, I mix my own potting soil using compost with ProMix added to lighten it. ProMix has a high proportion of sphagnum/peat moss, which cannot be sustainably harvested. Ground coconut hulls or coir is a sustainable product, and the condensed block above, which yields this wheelbarrow-full when water is added, reduces transportation and storage costs. However, the product is made in Sri Lanka so I am not sure where I come out.
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The folks from Jolly Gardener have just introduced a new line of organic soils and mixes. I always want to support companies who decide to take the organic route!
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Given the trend towards legalization and what a big business this is becoming, I was surprised there wasn’t more marketing to this specialized segment of the green industry.
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Another fun aspect of MANTS is seeing the lengths exhibitors go to attract attendees to their booths. This tree touched the roof of the convention center, and the holly and evergreen next to it are huge too.
Michael standing next to the biggest tree spade I have ever seen.
Amazing boxwoods
Baltimore is a fun city to visit. We had a delicious dinner at Woodberry Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant located in a charming re-purposed factory.
We visited Fort McHenry, a late 18th century, star-shaped fort guarding the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. Francis Scott Key composed “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814 about the flag flying at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore against the British in the War of 1812.
On the grounds of Fort McHenry, you will find this somewhat startling 24 foot statue of the Greek mythological figure Orpheus on a 15 foot tall base and clothed in nothing but a fig leaf. It was commissioned in 1914 to commemorate Francis Scott Key for the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore even though “The Star-Spangled Banner” did not become our national anthem until 1931. Click here to read the rather humorous background of the statue..
Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
January 15, 2017 at 7:17 pm
What a nice trip you had. I am glad to hear of an organic tick killing product. I was bit last year and hope I escaped that fate of Lyme disease. 80 year old boxwood? Wow. Funny seeing the Cannabis display, but it is legal in MD, no?
January 15, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Donna, Not sure whether cannabis is legal in Maryland but MANTS draws businesses from up and down the east coast and beyond. Ticks are nothing to fool around with and much more dangerous than mosquitoes and zika virus. I was glad to find there are alternatives to nasty chemicals too. Carolyn
January 15, 2017 at 7:19 pm
Wow – that tree spade is MASSIVE!!! I always wonder how well trees of that size actually transplant, and what kind of success rates they have in reestablishing themselves. My hellebores were showing buds too, but are all covered up in snow in this out of the ordinary snow cover that is currently blanketing Portland. (OR)
January 15, 2017 at 9:31 pm
Anna, I don’t know anything about transplanting trees that size except that it is a very specialized business. I would love to see it done from start to finish. Luckily hellebores don’t mind being covered in snow. Carolyn
January 17, 2017 at 7:44 pm
What a nice escape in January, and it sure does cheer you up seeing the plants and thinking about the new gardening season. I love that hellebore!
January 18, 2017 at 11:00 am
Frank, Here are a whole series of Penny’s Pink type hellebores. It’s very exciting. Carolyn
February 1, 2017 at 9:12 pm
It’s fun to see the displays at the show — and to think about spring coming. I’m a long-time user of Jolly Gardener products and have been happy with them, especially their organic lines. Their Maine production facility is just a couple miles down the road from my house, and dairy farmers in my neighborhood can be seen hauling trailers full of cow manure to Jolly Gardner in the fall.
February 1, 2017 at 9:17 pm
Jean, It is always nice when a supplier you like provides an organic option. Carolyn