Billy and I had the day to spend visiting more members and nurseries. We started the day meeting Broward Chapter president Tony Bruzo, FCLC, for breakfast at Crackle Barrel. Tony filled us in on a new event the chapter is hosting. It’s called the Broward Tailgate Trade Show and takes place March 5 at the FNGLA Certification Exam Site in Pembroke Pines. They’re tying in training for the April landscape certification exam with the tail gate party as well as free barbecue so it should be a very popular event.
Tony took us to the Howard C. Forman Health Park to show off the stations of the exam site. The chapter and certified professionals in the area have done a great job setting up permanent stations. This is a HUGE benefit as one of the most challenging parts of the field exams are getting the test stations put together. Billy was really pleased to see what the chapter has done. As a judge for the landscape exam he was impressed and even volunteered to come down and help with the training on March 5th.
We ran out of time the day prior when it came to visiting nurseries, so we headed south again and went to see Sandy Stein at The Jungle.
Sandy is a graduate of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute, as are Billy and I, so we wanted to bond with our fellow WLI Alum. I had been to Sandy’s place in 2007 and knew he was redoing things, but I was surprised to see how different things are there. In response to the changing marketplace, Sandy has done a complete makeover of his crops and is offering a diversity of very cool landscape plants. He is definitely not doing business the same old way. Even in construction mode, The Jungle is one of the cleanest nurseries around.
From Sandy’s we headed to Suzanne and Don Broyle’s nurseries, Sunshine Tropical Foliage. Like Sandy, the Broyles are expanding on their crops. Well known for their dracaenas for interior spaces, they now have an intriguing selection of succulents. Don had a few different experiments going with plants he had found in the landscape. He has the perfect natural laboratory as he and Suzanne have created a botanical garden next to the nursery and their home. It has all types of wonderful species from balboa trees to giant staghorn ferns. What a treat to get to visit this private sanctuary!
Speaking of treats, when we left Sunshine Tropical Foliage, Billy and I treated ourselves to a stop at Knaus Berry Farm & Bakery. This small shop in the Redlands specializes in local produce, fabulous baked goods and homemade ice cream. I couldn’t resist buying a dozen “world famous cinnamon sticky buns” still warm from the oven. Billy loaded up on brownies and a homemade milk shake. Yes, we definitely fell off the diet wagon that day, but it was worth it!
We headed back to Ft. Lauderdale where we were picking up Billy’s wife (another Linda), at the airport. Linda was a trooper and actually attended 3 of the 8 Christmas parties with us! We had just enough time to stop by to see Rob Shoelson, FCLC, owner of Getting Green Plant Service, a company which rewholesales trees, plants and all kind of landscape supplies to landscape professionals in southeast Florida. It was good to hear from Rob that business is picking up with new work for landscape contractors in the area. Rob gave us tips on the gift exchange game at the Broward chapter party and then we were off to pick up Linda and buy party gifts to exchange.
No comments:
Post a Comment