Side Trip On The FNGLA Party Trip

Our next FNGLA Chapter Party was Broward Chapter. It is a tradition for the party to take place at the home of Wes and Vickie Parrish with Parrish Nursery. In fact, I had heard such great things about the Broward Christmas Party over the years that it was this party which was my original incentive to do the FNGLA Christmas Party Road Trip.
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.

Christmas Southern Style

The next 3 chapter Christmas parties called for a Road Trip to South Florida! Dade, Broward and Palm Beach chapters had scheduled their parties over 3 consecutive days: Dec. 10, 11, and 12. Perfect scheduling for those of us attending from afar!
Billy Butterfield, FLCL, stayed true to his commitment to the FNGLA Christmas party schedule, and was particularly pleased as we had added nursery and FNGLA member visits to our 3 days of travels.
Our first stop was Homestead where we visited some of my longtime FNGLA member friends. First on the list was Kerry Herndon at Kerry’s Nursery, past chairman of TPIE and one my favorite columnists in the Ball Publications. I hadn’t seen his place since H. Wilma so it was past time for a visit. It is always impressive to see those acres and acres of bromeliads and orchids and the smart technology being used. Kerry introduced us to one of the favorite local restaurants. It goes by the name of Las Vegas, although I don’t know why. Food was wonderful – awesome bread!
More nursery stops – we saw Bill Lyden and his family at work at Farm Life Tropical Foliage. Bill’s another past chairman of TPIE and has totally rebuilt his place since H. Wilma with very strong structures! As is his standard, the nursery was perfectly clean and well organized with very cool specimens ready for interior settings. We were intrigued by the large plots of vegetables being grown as one drives onto the property. At first I thought Bill was following First Lady Michelle Obama’s example of growing his own vegetable garden, but he explained it’s actually a third party growing the veggies to sell. Those eggplants looked very tempting.
From Farm Life we made a quick jog down to Charlie Martin’s place, HB Martin. Charlie is the vice chair of the TPIE Committee so I guess our nursery visits had a TPIE committee theme going. Charlie grows colorful landscape plants and had a very diverse collection for us to see.

The Dade Chapter Holiday Party had a truly beautiful setting as it took place at R. F. Orchids. Although this is a retail store, R. F. Orchids is also a botanical garden and is truly a tropical paradise. The chapter members gathered under the chickee complete with bar. Like other FNGLA chapters, Dade was collecting toys for a local charity group. To provide even greater incentive to bring donations, anyone who arrived with a toy received $5 off the chapter meeting fee.
It was great to see many of my long-time south Florida FNGLA friends at the meeting. If I start listing names, I know I will forget people, so I’ll just say it was great to see everyone!
To make sure people had plenty of time to visit and catch up, Dade Chapter president Steve Leonard kept the speeches to a minimum – in fact, he welcomed everyone and then we were directed to move to the lawn for dinner. I was very pleased to see our buffet had a great selection of Cuban food. For those of us from central Florida and beyond, Cuban food is a treat we don’t get too often.
It was a beautiful evening with a clear sky and warm breeze. What a treat to enjoy a delicious dinner and great company sitting in a tropical garden under the stars…in December! Now that's what I call a memorable Chapter party!