john_ny

Caloosamusa - I sent you a PM. Right now, hopefully, I'll be meeting with you and Jarred. Would like to see if some other members could join us also.

Palmtree - There is a chance to buy some plants, but you cannot remove anything until the show closes, at the end of the third day. Many of the exhibitors want to sell stuff cheap, so they don't have to carry it back. I'm limited as to what I can buy, because I have to get on a plane to get home. A couple of years ago, at a Pennsylvania show, which I drove to with my van, I bought the contents of one booth. (mostly balled and burlapped evergreens) The show closed at 3 PM, but I couldn't get to the loading dock until 7 PM. Also, a few years ago, at an Orlando show, we visited one of the exhibitors, at his citrus nursery. The nursery was between the hotel and the airport, so we stopped on the way. He wanted to give me some samples (3) that were 4 to 5 feet, in 10 inch containers. I asked him how I was going to get them on the plane, and he took them out of the containers, shook most of the soil off the roots, put them in a black garbage bag, and tied it around the trunks. He then put another bag over the tops, and tied it. I carried them, like a large barbell, on the airplane, and stashed them in the overhead, but you couldn't do that today. So, now I only buy little things, like a few trays of tissue cultures, that I can carry out the front door.

Jeffrey - Thanks for the input. I've now done this so many years, that I think I've experienced the gamut. One year, there was a heat wave, and the temps were in the 80s. You could barely find a place to sit, on the beach. Another time, it was so cold that, after the show, we drove to Key West, and even had to wear a jacket, in the middle of the day, down there.

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John