We received word this week of the 14 winners of the 2021 Cool New Products awards from last month’s Tropical Plant International Expo. And as I suspected, the Little Pot of Horrors from Flori-Design and Ultra Pink aglaonema from Costa Farms each received recognition. I guess I can pick a winner (I should play the ponies—just kidding).

That leaves 12 additional products to tell you about—six in this edition of Tropical Topics and the other half dozen in the next. Without further ado, here are the first three:

Colorful Classic Canna. Abbott-Ipco’s cannas rhizomes originate from virus-tested TC. They’ll thrive in the heat (they’re from Texas, after all) and give you repeat blooms spring through fall. Pollinators love 'em, too.

New Jurassic Rex Begonias. Ball Ingenuity is adding three new series to its Jurassic Rex begonia line. There’s still the classic Jurassic series. It’s joined by Jurassic Dino (compact for 4- to 6-in. pots), Jurassic Jr. (40% smaller leaves than Jurassic for less breakage) and lastly Jurassic Megalo for 10-in. or larger pots. The three new series help fit more pot sizes, from tiny Dino to massive Megalo.

Yucca rostrata Collection. Botanics Wholesale’s collection of specimen-sized beaked yuccas are containerized for customer convenience. Some of these specimens are upwards of 15 to 30 years old and max out at 15 ft. tall. They are extremely drought tolerant and can even tolerate temps as low as 0F.

Vriesea Happy Yellow. I noticed Corn Bak’s vriesea collection last year and loved these unique plants. Their Happy Yellow is part of the Happy series with extraordinarily yellow-branched inflorescences. Also available are Purple and Red. Grow it in 3- to 5-in. pots.

Aglaonema Mellow Yellow. Speaking of yellow, Costa Farms’ Mellow Yellow features large oval, dark-green leaves that are heavily variegated with a creamy yellow color, with no two leaves the same. Customers can use it to brighten low-light corners. It can tolerate inconsistent watering, too.

Hibiscus Earth Angel. J. Berry Nursery’s latest intro to the Hollywood Hibiscus line has brilliantly bright white blooms that shine against leathery, dark-green leaves. It’s high bud count results in tons of blooms, each lasting for multiple days. Also, it's resistant to bacterial leaf spot and whitefly.

I’ll have the rest for you next time around.

The Society of American Florists is heavy into the floral market, sure. But with more and more people working/schooling/staying at home, floral professionals are called upon to be houseplant experts and providers, too.

To help florists get a better handle on the houseplant category, SAF is launching its first-ever Great Big Plant Event in March. Centered around nearly two dozen bite-sized recorded demos and talks, folks attending the Great Big Plant Event will hear from industry experts speaking on specifics topics like creating innovative services, merchandising, designing with plants, leveraging social media, dealing with supply issues and a whole bunch more.

SAF will also host live meet-up events and social media takeovers. The live events will feature discussions and Q&As with Eliza Blank of The Sill and Marcus Bridgewater, aka Garden Marcus. Since these are recorded sessions, they’ll be available for purchase and viewing at your leisure. Find out more about the event and how to sign up at Great Big Plant Event.

Eason Horticultural Resources has brought on Tricia Toomey to work on the company’s Florida Foliage Team. In addition to Tricia’s years of experience in the horticulture industry, she’s also a huge fan of gardening (she's a Master Gardener, in fact!). Combine those two and you get a person who is a natural fit for working on the Foliage Team at Eason, in general.

So if you’re looking to be hooked up with some Florida foliage or just need some words of advice, Tricia’s your go-to at EHR. Congrats on the new position, Tricia!