I’m not sure what the weather has been like in your neighborhood, but here in River Ridge, we’ve gone back and forth from fall (50s) to summer (80s) to fall and back to summer … all with plenty of rain to keep things interesting. At my house, we’re starting to pack up the garden in preparation for the October 15 first-freeze date; at last count, Laurie was down to just 79 containers from a high of about 150—truly, it’s almost a desert on the back porch and patio.

We won't be dining like this for much longer.

Thankfully, we have the garden room and its 100 or so tropical plants and succulents to keep us going through the long Chicago winter.

Which reminds me: we still have the annual Halloween River Ridge Report to do! Watch for that at the end of the month, courtesy of our generous sponsor Sun Gro.

Now for some breaking news:

Faced with major construction at Navy Pier and the long list of inconveniences that would come with it, IGC Show founders Jeff and Cheryl Morey have announced their decision to move the event to a new permanent home in Chicago: the Lakeside Center hall at McCormick Place, beginning next summer with IGC Show 2019, slated for August 13-15.

Jeff knows the change will raise questions, so he and and his wife are working hard to ensure both attendees and exhibitors that they’ll keep all the “signature extras” the IGC Show has offered at Navy Pier through the years, such as the three free keynotes, continuing education sessions, networking opportunities and Wednesday’s free classic rock concert. In fact, they say, the move will make it easier for attendees and exhibitors to get the most from their IGC Show experience – by bringing all the events together in one central location.

“Everything will be on the show floor level,” Cheryl explains. “No more climbing stairs, no long hikes to the ballroom for the keynotes and concert, no going to the next floor up for the conference sessions. The trade show floor will be the center of the action and the hub for everything.”

IGC Chicago 2018, the last one to be held at Navy Pier.

The move was forced by construction of a $100 million, 222-room hotel on top of Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, the site of IGC Show’s trade show since its inception in 2007.

“This past August at our 12th annual IGC Show, we felt the pains from the construction,” Jeff says, “and that was just the beginning of the demolition and building planned for the years to come. Our attendees and exhibitors suffered from restricted entry to the exhibit hall. Elevators weren’t working, escalators weren’t operating—it wasn’t pretty.”

Adds Cheryl, “Fortunately, despite these challenges, the show was a huge hit with attendees and exhibitors alike. But we also lost a lot of the prime lobby space that previously housed show registration and the GCA Café. Not to mention, the large windows looking out to Lake Michigan – they were all gone.”

Meanwhile, just south of Navy Pier, McCormick’s Lakeside Center streams natural light into the contemporary, recently revamped space, and presents spectacular sweeping views with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to Lake Michigan.

Jeff and Cheryl say they plan to continue offering discounted show rates at hotels in Chicago’s popular Loop area, in addition to hotels at McCormick Place.

“We started a big updating process on the IGC Show two years ago—for example, the addition of the IGC Networking Lounge and Shop Talk Retail Discussions on the show floor,” Cheryl said. “Now starting next August, we are excited to add a lot of things we never had room for in the past. Stay tuned for lots more details. Think of it as IGC Show 2.0.”

Via email, I asked Jeff if this move was temporary or permanent. “We will never return,” was his reply. Why?

“Because the placing of the new hotel—literally on top and on the front of Festival Hall (our show hall) will forever degrade it. The building we loved for over 10 years will be gone. Simply put, they are ruining the place. All those beautiful bay windows looking out on the lake in the lobby areas will be permanently gone, as will the lobbies themselves.” He added that the new hotel will be an expensive boutique brand, with room prices way out of the range of “show hotel rates.”

But as for Chicago?

“We’re in Chicago to stay,” says Jeff. “We’re not going anywhere after this move.”

Speaking of upgrades, how about on caladiums? Fellow bobblehead Ellen Wells has recently done some reporting on the crop, speaking with Richard Hollander and Nelson Darden of Abbott IPCO about their caladium production partner Classic Caladiums, which has introduced some new production ideas. Here’s her report:

You’ll remember that last year’s Hurricane Irma did a lot of damage to Florida’s caladium fields, which resulted in a severe shortage of bulbs. It also negatively impacted this year’s projected availability, as less acreage was planted following the hurricane. “There are two ways to look at it,” Richard said, referring to Florida’s weather issues, “you can cry about it or get on with it.” Which is exactly what they did. They decided to change up their techniques in order to hedge their bets against potential weather issues this year.

You could say they pulled off a caladium culture coup earlier this spring by completely planting their caladium crop six weeks earlier than normal. Rather than planting in April, as has always been the norm, Classic Caladiums’ fields were planted in March. This gave the crop a head start in growth—which turned out to be just the trick to get the caladiums through the washout rains of early May. Planting in March is a bit risky due to cold weather, they explained. But as long as the soil temperatures are above 65F, the crop should be fine.

Two other techniques that helped prevent bulbs from washing away in May and June’s pouring rains are planting in laser-leveled fields and planting in raised beds under plastic mulch. If you’ve seen those large commercial strawberry fields out in California, that’s essentially how Classic planted their caladiums. And it wasn’t cheap! They planted the entire crop using an H-2A guest worker labor force, costing them about 50% more in planting labor. They hope the yield will increase over years past, barring any weather-related issues.

It turns out that by going “all in,” as Richard calls it, Classic produced the best crop they’ve had in their 18 years of growing caladiums. While it was a big risk to try something new, their farm manager called the new process a no-brainer. It’s not just them saying the crop looks awesome. They recently had visits by some Ball sales team members, a Disney World landscape team and many other plant professionals, all of whom were seriously impressed with what they saw.

Nelson was quick to point out that Classic has more than 60 new varieties, which exhibit many grower—and ultimately consumer—benefits. Such traits as disease resistance, improved habit and reduced pot crop time have been bred into many of their newly released varieties. One area getting a lot of attention is new caladium varieties that take full sun!

Thanks, Ellen! Good info. The caladium world is fascinating to me—a handful of producers in one small area in Central Florida producing much of the world’s supply of the crop. If you ever get a chance to drop in on Classic or any of the other Lake Placid-area producers, do so! They’re good people!

I’ve been playing up my recent trip to the Czech Republic with the International Garden Center Association in an effort to convince you to come along with us next year to Windsor, England, September 1-6. The IGCA tour is truly one of the highlights of my horticultural year because of the amazing places we visit and the equally amazing group of garden center folks all traveling together. Next year we’ll be exploring the Southeast of England, including great garden centers and both Kew and Wisley gardens. I believe there’s a night in London, too, and a tour and lunch at the Bombay Sapphire distillery. And of course we will get inspired by some of the best garden centers in the world, including Coolings, Haskins, Millbrook and Squire’s.

If you’re considering it, you can save some money by signing up by October 31 to take advantage of the early bird discount, which is worth more than $1,000. Base price of the tour, per person, is about $2,875 double occupancy. That goes up to $3,955 after March 1. Sure, it’s not cheap … but the tour, venues, entertainment, dining and accommodations are all best-of-the-best. This is not your typical box-lunch bus tour!

But hey, check out the UK contingent’s promotional video HERE for a taste of what you’ll see. If this doesn’t give you goosebumps, you have no garden center soul!

Here’s a LINK to the website.

Botrytis is widely considered to be one of the costliest diseases in greenhouse production, which is why you definitely want to tune in to my next free GrowerTalks webinar, “New Research, New Innovation in Botrytis Management.”

It’s slated for Tuesday, October 16, at 1 p.m. Eastern/Noon Central.

I’ve invited not one but TWO guest experts to tackle this important topic: Dr. Janna Beckerman of Purdue and Dr. Aaron Palmateer, formerly of the University of Florida and now with Bayer, will provide you with actionable insights on:

- The latest research in Botrytis management
- Topline results from research trials on fungicide efficacy for Botrytis control
- Details on the new fungicide Broadform, by Bayer, a new resistance management tool and specialized solution for control of Botrytis and other key bedding plant pathogens, including Alternaria, Anthracnose, Myrothecium, powdery mildew and Septoria.

As a bonus, all webinar participants are registered for a chance to win one of four free bottles of Broadform! Click here for the official rules.

Go to www.growertalks.com/webinars to sign up.

Last week, I hosted one of my more interesting GrowerTalks webinars, “Greenhouse vs. Indoor Cannabis Growing.” It was interesting to me because it’s a topic of which I have little knowledge or experience. I know all about growing in greenhouses, but warehouses? Those are for warehousing things, right? Thankfully, my guest expert, Nick Earls of Wadsworth Control Systems, has experience growing in both settings, and he gave the audience plenty to ruminate on in the one-hour session.

The session was archived, of course, at the usual spot: www.growertalks.com/webinars.

Thanks to our sponsor, the National Greenhouse Manufacturers Association, for putting the “free” in free webinar!

Where’s Chris this time? Texas, specifically College Station, to do something a bit different. In fact, something my former teachers would probably find downright ludicrous (except my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Davis, who once told me she knew I was smart but lazy).

I’ll fill you in on my adventures next time.