Hi from your occasional SC poster. I went to the sale at Leu Gardens this past weekend. WOW. I had also come down for the February plant sale in Vero Beach. Even though some of the vendors do both shows, they had distinctly different plants. I plan on attending both next year again. This time I found a hardy olive tree and some wonderful large birds nest ferns. I also broke down and purchased a bottle palm at a Lowes. I had seen these on my February trip and after researching it, decided it was worth having to schlep it inside for a few months each year. Had a lovely visit with a woman and her son while eating lunch under the trees. She mentioned another plant show in the fall in Apopka. I may have to check that out if it's like these other 2 fabulous days I spent this spring in your state! Thanks to all who offered advice on nurseries to stop at. Melissa

Thanks for posting this. I missed the Hall County show, but I went to the Forsyth County show last year and loved it. Lots of great vendors and some good deals. I plan to go again next weekend.

Darren, Yeah, with a full day having passed, the vendors have a chance to peruse "the competition", and try to release as much stock as possible without having to haul it all away, so there's always a number of them who take 10-25% off their prices, depending on Saturday's success. In July, when USF had their Tropical Plants sale, I met this really amazing guy. He'd bug you about buying stuff, but in the most meaningless and unaffronting manor. He'd spout things like "The only good plant is a sold plant!" and "Don't make me lug this stuff home!" When I got home from the fair, I did some research on him, trying to find his shop. All I found were a few articles from the St Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) dating back to 2001 or so. He had a nursery on Gunn highway, family sold some of the acreage for Citrus Park Mall parking and he was planning to move out west. He'd swam in the pond on his property, unafraid of the gators or various other insects/reptiles around the property. All these years later he was still working with USF, but I couldn't find any info on a shop/nursery now. He's famous for his ridiculously cheap gingers, bromeliads and other tropical goods. I was looking forward to seeing him again, but alas, he didn't make it this time around.

I was there! Always go with some good friends who love plants. I said I wasnt buying that much because I have a sizeable pot ghetto that needs planting but the inside of my truck looked like a jungle - could not fit one more thing in it. They had some great roses - Greg Grant had propogated a climbing sport of Belinda's Dream - be interesting to see how this blooms. Also Big Momma's Blush tea - from his grandmother's old home in Acadia as well as a Thelma Wheeler crepe myrtle from her home - it blooms purple, saw it on a slide show at one of his talks. As usual I buy too much but I dont care, its such fun and you get things there that are available nowhere else. Got my 3 chinese fringe trees - they sold out fast. We ate at Posada's and decided to bo back by and see what was left and bought some more. It was a great day, perfect weather. This is one of the "must do" things in spring and fall. SFA has a fall sale that is also fun. It is well worth going to! I graduated from nursing school from SFA in 2002 - the chinese fringe trees that were young when I was there along the intermural field are now huge!