Last week’s Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE) gave me plenty of Tropical Topics fodder for the next month, if not more. Yes, there’s that many new trends, plants, products, people—but I’ll parse it out so you don’t get overwhelmed.

How about I start with what everyone in this business truly loves? I’m talking about new plants. The plant that went home with the Most Unusual Plant Specimen Award as determined by the show’s judges, is something called Codiaeum variegatum To The Max. It’s from ForemostCo, and if that name sounds foreign to you, maybe you’ll recognize the Thai Dye series of crotons instead.

ForemostCo’s Thai Dyes are not “new” new. We spotted them at last year’s Cultivate show and I even wrote about them in Tropical Topics. That’s because they won a Retailer’s Choice Award last year. Turns out the series of four (also including Twisted, Gnarly and Tubular) won a Retailer’s Choice Award at TPIE, too. Different groups of judges choosing the same series? Must mean it’s good! But what makes them so special? These genetics from Thailand give the crotons much larger and more vibrant leaves on some very non-croton-like forms. The variety names bring back some very distinct high school moments, too.

But let’s have the larger body of attendees decide what they like, shall we? The winner of the Favorite New Foliage Plant is a variegated monstera from Costa Farms called Thai Constellation. As Chris Beytes pointed out in his Acres Online last Friday, “I guess that means the days of $150 monstera cuttings on eBay are numbered.”

And then there’s the Favorite New Flowering Plant. It’s called Yellow Dancer or Golden Plume. Botanically it’s a toss-up—some peg it as a Schaueria, others as a Justicia. I put it in the Dr. Seuss category myself. How awesome is this?

Not so sure this one will be available by the thousands anytime soon. I could be wrong.

Crazy, but true. You need all those other things—pots, packaging and whatnot—to sell and display those beautiful plants you grow, and they have awards for those items, too.

The item chosen by the attendees as the Favorite New Product is the Plant Shipping Packs from A-Roo Company, which are sold in the E-Commerce Packaging category.

They have a bunch of different shapes and sizes that can ship anything from plugs to large, delicate orchids.

Remember the Bird Planter guys, Donald Murray and Shibu Varughese, who won a Retailer’s Choice Award at TPIE 2019? They’ve had another bird come to roost in their hanging planter line—and it’s a rooster! And this avian specimen has collected a Retailer’s Choice Award, too.

They’ve seem some terrific growth in their fledgling business since being at TPIE and a few other shows last year. Other good news is that they’ve moved all production to the U.S. right outside of Tampa (better quality and brighter, more vibrant colors, Donald told me) and they’ve expanded their available colors to six.

There are about nine more plants and four more products in the Retailer’s Choice Award winners list. I’ll get to those next time.

It’s a good possibility that if you weren’t at TPIE this year, you likely heard of the booth making a big stir on the show floor. The folks from Aroid Greenhouses in Southwest Ranches, Florida, drove their goods—an assortment of some fine and not-too-common aroids (along with some wood of floral décor use) onto the show floor and then parked them there.

The Amezquita family has a plant truck that they drive to various markets in Southern Florida and from which they sell their popular and unusual plants. The Petals truck is a used food truck that Edgar bought for about $12,000, gutted and retooled for a total of around $45,000. In my brief conversation with him, he said his daughter Paula insisted on the truck and insisted on selling non-commodity houseplants. Annuals? Plants with lots of color? Nope, not this truck. Sell the hard-to-propagate-and-find stuff. And this father, who couldn’t resist the pleas of his daughter, is mighty glad he listened to her.

Aroid Greenhouses covers all channels at the moment—wholesale, brick and mortar and mobile retail and online via Etsy. Looking for some rare-ish stuff for your houseplant department? I would wager they have it.

It turns out the Uber driver who took me from the convention center to the airport is actually friends with these guys. Small world!

Monsteras? So last year. Fiddle-leaf figs? Please, darling, don’t date yourself. Succulents? Oh, just no.

That’s according to an article I accidently ran across this morning on Realtor.com. In it, the author lists five plants that make your home look “woefully outdated.” And they are the big items we’re seeing everywhere. You’ll groan with disappointment when you see the list. But maybe you’ll perk up and get busy sourcing the plants the author says are “fresh alternatives.”

Here’s the list:

Out: Fiddle-leaf fig. “It has been seen, and seen and seen again.”
In: Ficus triangularis. “…incredibly hardy, rather quick-growing, easy to care for, and very playful-looking.”

Out: Cactus. “A cactus is not the best for little curious hands and paws.”
In: Fabien stump. “2020 is shifting more toward comfort, intimacy and softness, and this plant delivers on all fronts.”

Out: Banana leaf palm. “It harkens a more bohemian or glam style, which may not be fitting with all home styles.”
In: Natal mahogany. “…elegant, unfussy and sophisticated without trying too hard.”

Out: Monstera. “A bit overused and not always in keeping with the architectural style of a home.”
In: Bird’s nest fern. “[the plant] can work in all home styles, and they can grow quite large.”

Out: Orchids. “In 2020 we'll be seeing a big shift toward softer, less structured plant life indoors.”
In: Branches. “Even a few stems of a lesser 'trendy' plant or flower can breathe new life into a space while offering a more personalized, unique look.”