As promised in my last edition of Tropical Topics, I’m including the last few winners of the 2021 TPIE Cool New Products Awards. Remember, they had 14 winners in all, but I had somehow anticipated that Little Shop of Horrors carnivorous plants (from Flori-Design) and Costa Farms’ Ultra Pink aglaonema would be picked, sharing them in an earlier edition of TT. (By the way, I saw the Little Shop of Horrors product in a local IGC the other day and I felt very in-the-know!)

Without further ado, the remaining Cool New Products are:

Suntory’s Brindabella Crimson Knight rose. It’s the newest variety in their Brindabella series of fragrant roses. It has a high petal count, with each one being a gorgeous deep red. Disease resistant, too. And they aren’t kidding about these being fragrant roses. If you haven’t sniffed the Brindabellas, you are in for a rosy treat.

Suntory’s Sun Parasol Sunbeam, the breeding company’s first yellow mandevilla, won a Cool New Product, too. It’s a rich, egg-yolky yellow with a soothing dark throat. Sunbeam is in Suntory’s Original group, which means it has a bushy habit, is appropriate for hanging baskets and containers and is among the easiest of the Sun Parasols to grow. The Originals now number seven colors. I’d mix this with some the other reds and pinks in the Sun Parasol line—talk about hot combos.

LiveTrends Design Group’s Minimalist and Curator Collections. LiveTrends is a sure winner each year for their dozens of new and on-trend plant-and-pot creations. Within the Minimalist Collection, the Azure Collection was called out for its minimal-but-not-cold designs and soft-touch surfaces.

The Curator’s Terrestrial Collection is inspired by deserts, and it’s the rough desert landscape which inspires these items’ rough surface with intentional cracks and layering. Honestly, every LiveTrends item is like a work of art deserving of that Cool New Product designation.

Urban Jungle (a LiveTrends company) offers products that are more about the plant than the pot. But even though the plant is paramount, Urban Jungle’s Artisan and Earthenware Collections received Cool New Product awards for the beauty of their pots. The Artisan terra cotta containers look hand thrown and have elegant curves and rounded edges.

The Earthenware Collection emphasizes organic and tactile surfaces and combine the beauty of raw materials with trendy foliage.

I’ll pick two final favorites from the virtual edition of TPIE, and they both have a ghostly character about them. They are:

The Monster Mash Collection from LiveTrends. Halloween is becoming one of the company’s biggest categories, maybe because the fall holiday is becoming one of the country’s biggest holidays for decorating. This Monster Mash collection screams scary with fun colors and characters such as Shriek and Boogi. The Witch’s Workshop Collection has items that make you think, “Well, something went a little awry here,” such as the adorable-but-scary Monster Cat.

Finally, Deroose Plants’ peperomia Frost is a bit “ghostly” with the unique silvery finish on its rippled leaves. Loving low light and 65-75F conditions, this plant seems like one that is perfect for first-time success for the casual houseplant shopper. Available as 4-in. pots and 72-cell liners.

That’s it for my 2021 TPIE coverage—unless you have something you’d like to share? Happy to include it! Just drop me a note about it at ewells@ballpublishing.com. Can’t wait to see y’all in person at TPIE 2022 in Tampa!

Retailers and houseplant lovers among us, you’ll be psyched for a new book all about tropicals. Even if you grow them professionally, I’m sure you have your good days and your bad days with this plant category, am I right? Let Marianne Willburn and her new book “Tropical Plants and How to Love Them” be your tropical plant matchmaker.

I got a chance to review Marianne’s book a few months ago and I love how she has outlined the chapters. She uses five different relationship types to help you understand the different levels of care that tropical plants require. Such as? Caladiums as the Summer Romance, Musa basjoo as the Best Friend you can totally ignore, and the Ficus triangularis in the High-Maintenance Partner category. She also covers the need-to-know care and tips for overwintering these beauties.

The book is fun, informative and speaks a language most of us who ever watched soap operas of reality TV can understand. And it’s a good way for folks to decide which tropicals are right for them. Kinda like the plant version of The Dating Game. The book will be out April 6, but you can get your orders in at Quarto Publishing.