As you can see from my previous posts that we drove up and back to the show. We spent Sunday and Monday at the show. Both days seemed very busy on the show floor. We had good visits with out suppliers. Now we are waiting on them to get us our new pricing so that we can get started on the spring 2013 planning.
Both sales people and buyers were running around like crazy trying to get every one and everything seen that they needed to see. Several that I spoke to all mentioned how crazy their schedules were with meetings and trying to catch up with people. None of them seemed to have time to get it all done. I think companies should allow their people more time to take in the show and to talk to folks.
I didn’t see much in the way of new stuff that really got me excited. Most of the new introductions were additions or improvements to existing product lines like a new color of this or an improved variety of that.
One item that kind of stood out is the Jams ‘N Jellies Blackberry Vinca which was the 2012 All American Select Flower winner. I say “kind of” because even though I like the flower color, I am not sure how to best work it into our production. I don’t think there will be enough volume demand for it to be added into our packs or 1801 lines. I do like it in the Jams ‘N Jellies American Pie Mixture Vinca. Do you have any suggestions for it?
(Photos courtesy of http://www.panamseed.com)
Other interesting additions are new mixes of Confetti Gardens but I didn’t end up with any good pictures of them.
Monday night was the Awards Night. We were invited to dinner by Wayne Pianta with Pan American Seed. Congratulations to Pan American Seed for their Cool Wave Pansies which won the Greenhouse Grower Editor’s Choice Medal of Excellence Award. We got the luck of good timing and the privilege of celebrating that night at dinner with Anne Leventry, President of Pan American Seed, Claire Watson, PAS Marketing Manager, Mark Short, PAS Global Sales, Wayne Pianta and Jim Bloodworth, who are both PAS Technical Product Representatives, and well as John and Natalie Miller and Sabrina Chu from Tagawa and David Pruitt from Ball Tagawa. Thanks everyone! We had a great time and congratulations again on winning!
Here are some random pictures from the show.
