A Passion for the Passion Flower
A few weeks ago we visited the Ft. Lauderdale area for TPIE, (Tropical Plant International Expo), and we stayed a few extra days to make a family vacation out of it.
We were already in plant-nerd heaven by perusing the trade show floor and taking in all of the lush plants where grower after grower carefully and artfully displayed their work. To my delightful surprise, we were in for another plant fix when we took our girls to Butterfly World. We came to learn that the founder, Ronald Boender, shares our love for the passion flower!
I’ve shared before that the passion flower vine is one of our favorite plants, so much so that Russ and I both have tattoos of them and the winery is named after it. You’ll also find it incorporated into our logo designs. As we walked through Butterfly World, what a treat it was to find a whole area dedicated to the passion flower. We explored huge pot after huge pot of many different varieties of the vine. Ronald Boender’s love for the plant took him to visit Costa Rica and Equador 120 times to observe and collect the vines, plus he personally produced 11 special hybrids of his own! I so admire and appreciate how his fascination with butterflies and plants led him to create a place over 35 years ago for so many people to go to enjoy and learn.
It’s so much fun to see where our plant passions take us. Christopher Lloyd says it well in his book, “The Well-Tempered Garden”— “Gardening, above all, is an affair of the heart. To me, it is an expression of one’s self, a way of creating a space that reflects personality, ambition, and the simple love of growing things.” I see this “affair of the heart” in many of you and genuinely enjoy learning about what your plant passions are. As I think about this more, I realize that so often for me, part of getting to know someone is getting to know their favorite plants and which bring them the most joy. It truly becomes part of you.
Here’s a few notes this week—
- If roses are one of your favorites, don’t miss our Rose Pre-Order sale that launches today! Get first dibs on the best selection by ordering now.
- Thanks to all who stopped by to see us at the Washington County Home Show! The lucky winner of a $500 Bedner’s gift card is Sandra Shimko, congratulations! We’ll be giving away another one at the South Hills Home Show in a couple of weeks, so stop by to visit!
- if you are thinking about having our Landscape Team create a design for you or do a spring clean-up, (weeding, edging, mulching, pruning), I highly recommend getting on their schedule now! Fall and winter really are the best time to plan.
So happy to share the “simple love of growing things” with you.
Melanie has been with the family garden center business since 1999, gaining hands-on experience in nearly every aspect–from cashiering and greenhouse production to bookkeeping, perennial buying, marketing, and store management. Now serving as Finance and Marketing Director, she combines her expertise with a passion for growing the business. She and her husband, Russ, have loved seeing how plants, gardening, and beautiful landscapes bring joy to our community.
