TPIE 2024 Cool Product Awards announced
More than 50 new plants and products were selected and voted on at The Tropical Plant International Expo (TPIE), with the top 15 receiving Cool Product Awards for 2024, according to The Garden Center Group. TPIE took place Jan. 17-19 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Here’s a quick review and links for more details on products awarded:
Leaf-shaped trellises and wooden plant stakes
The retailers at TPIE were drawn to these new creatively designed plant stakes and trellises. They are wooden with plastic-coated legs. The Extendable Trellis grows as the plant does. Multiple sizes and designs are available from this innovation-focused company, located in the Metro Atlanta area.
Sun Parasol ‘Fired Up Orange’, ‘Original XP Mauvelous’ and ‘Original XP Bluephoria’
Suntory Flowers/Sunfire Nurseries
Sunfire Nurseries and Suntory are introducing three new Sun Parasol selections. FiredUp is a brand new series with a new flower form that is a flatter pinwheel shape. These Sun Parasols have an upright habit and narrow leaves. Sun Parasol Original XP adds the new Bluephoria with blue flower with pink buds, and the new Mauvelous with brush stroke color of mauve pink blooms.
Pitcher plant ‘Miranda’
A number of our retailer judges spotted (and nominated) Nepenthes ‘Miranda’, a cultivar hybrid from N. maxima and N. northiana. Miranda is a carnivorous tropical that produces peculiar pale green pitchers with red-brown speckles and an almost vertical mouth with dark reddish-brown. These pitchers can reach a height up to almost a foot (9.8 to 11.8 inches).
Latania lontaroides ‘Red Palm’
This caught the judges’ eyes with its bright red color of the young leaf stems. This striking, slow-growing fan palm can reach a mature height up to 30 feet and maintains its red stems.
Contemporary self-watering glass containers with terra cotta inserts
Longite Inc. – D’Vine Development
Longite/D’Vine caught the retailers’ attention with these self-watering terra cotta Pots. Produced in a number of sizes as well as colors such as terra cotta, as well as white and black glaze, each make it so easy to slowly water a plant.
Haunted Hallows series
This Haunted Hallow Series caught the retailer judges’ eyes. With a number of new additions, it now includes whimsical offerings that smaller children would enjoy during the Halloween season.
Eco pots
New Pro tells the recycle story with Ecopots, produced from recycled plastics and natural minerals to produce a very pleasing look. They come in a number of sizes, shapes and colors. New Pro also wowed our retailers by showing how scratches can easily be wiped off with a foam sanding pad.
Liquid plant food trial packs
Our retailers first awarded Flourish the Cool Product Award at TPIE 2023 for their Organic Liquid Plant Food. This year, they are introducing a convenient 5-pack trial size. This one small package contains 5 pre-measured ”tear-off” packets (can be seen on left of stand up display on clear plastic stand).
Multiple new color selections of bromeliads
When the retailers nominated Bullis Bromeliads there were so many amazing colors and new selections, the consensus was to simply say, for “Multiple New Color Selections.”
Sticky traps
Compostable Pest Traps (sticky trap) are small enough to stick inside the rim of the pot so not visible to the eye. They are made from compostable corn, not toxic plastic, so they can go straight in the compost once the pests have disappeared. One pack comes with 20 strips and a decorative metal storage tin and a wooden stake.
Philodendron ‘Fire Moon’
This year, R&D introduces our retailers to their new ‘Fire Moon’ Philodendron. While we awarded “Red Moon’ a Cool Product Award in 2022, this selection seems to have even darker, more dramatic reds in contrast to the yellow and green leaves.
Sustee water meters
This new water meter establishes a new bar for how we monitor houseplants. A few important features: The special wick (in white area show near top of stick) turns blue when adequate water is available and white when it is dry. Thee wick can be change after 6-9 months. Comes in three sizes for correct size pot and no batteries needed. Retailer judges also discussed this being an important add-on sale for every tropical plant, as the meter should stay in the pot as constant monitor. This is real innovation from the Japanese horticulture industry.
Bendable moss poles and clip-on grow lights
This new Bendable Moss Pole has longer “feet” without the stone base so it can be added to an existing planted container and also allows for removal when a taller one is needed without repotting. The new Clip-On Grow Lights are plug-ins (110 volt), come in both black and white colors, includes extendable height adjustment and features a timer with several extended on-hour options.
10 x 14 Weatherproof greenhouses
This new series of easy-to-assemble double-wall polycarbonate greenhouses created quite a number of conversation ideas with our retailers. With assembly in just a few hours instead of days with only a screwdriver and pliers, our retailers discussed even using them in the garden center for added winter protection plus creating possible vignettes for private event seating area.
Upcyled metal pots from cars from India
While Foliera offers a range of potted plants for all seasons, they were also showcasing the UPCYCLE line of metal pots in various colors with a real story of sustainability. UPCYCLE containers are made of recycled steel from automobiles in India. The combination of colors, sizes and finishes, along with the durability of steel, made this a real hit to our retailers.
The TPIE Cool Product Awards is a collaboration between TPIE, Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) and The Garden Center Group. The Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) is a vibrant network of professionals who work in unison to shape the future of Florida’s nursery and landscape industry. For more information on TPIE or FNGLA, visit fngla.org/tpie/
The Garden Center Group is a business group that provides solutions to operational issues facing independent garden retailers. Unlike a buying group that boosts your purchasing power on products that you sell, we focus on business solutions designed to help you increase sales, improve operations and retain more profit. By consolidating garden centers who agree to work together towards a common goal, the group is able to provide a network of professionals and business services most centers would not be able to afford on their own. For more information visit thegardencentergroup.com
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