MANTS. Where do I even begin? I guess this blog needs to start at the beginning. It will be long. In 2014 when we approached our administration about starting a horticulture program where previously there existed none, we were operating on a hope and a dream. A dream in sharing a love of plants with high school students and a hope that the community (and our tiny little storage space we call a greenhouse) would support us. Our enthusiasm and determination carried us forward in no small part to some really dedicated and encouraging students. While I am trained in Botany, holding my degree from Michigan State University, it turns out not to be very helpful when designing horticulture curriculum. I set out to learn as much as I could to support my extensive science background.
I attended seed swaps and harvest festivals, Mother Earth Fairs and the Philadelphia flower show. I have read multiple books from landscaping and pruning to genetics of tomatoes and spent endless hours on Youtube and the internet at large. I've met with multiple Master Gardeners and picked the brains of every plant related professional I can get to even talk to me. ( everyone is excited but no one really knows how to translate to high school students). Every single thing I attend always feeds me at least 1 fresh idea or piece of knowledge to immediately implement and my students are very aware of the quest we are all on together for knowledge.
In all of this, I started following Kathy Jentz from the Washington Gardener Magazine as she puts on the great seed swaps I continue to attend each year. She posted all about MANTS last year and I was a little miffed as to why I had not heard of this and why was I not there!? In preparation to attend MANTS this year I noticed it was during a work day and got cold feet. I decided to reach out on social media to see if this event was worth it for an educator. The people of MANTS were SO supportive and even offered me a pass, that I just couldn't say no. My principal got behind me and so did our science director at the county level providing me with professional leave to miss a day of instruction. Wow. What an experience. Seeing the support for our program is very uplifting this time of year.
I want to recap in as brief a space as possible my experience.
The venue and parking were great and our bus driver for the shuttle was hilarious. It was a great start to the day. The vast number of vendors blew me away in person and they are all plant related. Plants EVERYWHERE! I don't think I stopped smiling all day. I learned that there are so many nurseries out there producing amazing varieties of plants that you will never, ever see in a big box store. These nurseries sell to local garden centers who hand select what they think their customers would like to buy. The evergreen selection on display was mind boggling. I also learned that this field is hiring, is male dominated, and mostly drives pick up trucks.
I attended seed swaps and harvest festivals, Mother Earth Fairs and the Philadelphia flower show. I have read multiple books from landscaping and pruning to genetics of tomatoes and spent endless hours on Youtube and the internet at large. I've met with multiple Master Gardeners and picked the brains of every plant related professional I can get to even talk to me. ( everyone is excited but no one really knows how to translate to high school students). Every single thing I attend always feeds me at least 1 fresh idea or piece of knowledge to immediately implement and my students are very aware of the quest we are all on together for knowledge.
In all of this, I started following Kathy Jentz from the Washington Gardener Magazine as she puts on the great seed swaps I continue to attend each year. She posted all about MANTS last year and I was a little miffed as to why I had not heard of this and why was I not there!? In preparation to attend MANTS this year I noticed it was during a work day and got cold feet. I decided to reach out on social media to see if this event was worth it for an educator. The people of MANTS were SO supportive and even offered me a pass, that I just couldn't say no. My principal got behind me and so did our science director at the county level providing me with professional leave to miss a day of instruction. Wow. What an experience. Seeing the support for our program is very uplifting this time of year.
I want to recap in as brief a space as possible my experience.
The venue and parking were great and our bus driver for the shuttle was hilarious. It was a great start to the day. The vast number of vendors blew me away in person and they are all plant related. Plants EVERYWHERE! I don't think I stopped smiling all day. I learned that there are so many nurseries out there producing amazing varieties of plants that you will never, ever see in a big box store. These nurseries sell to local garden centers who hand select what they think their customers would like to buy. The evergreen selection on display was mind boggling. I also learned that this field is hiring, is male dominated, and mostly drives pick up trucks.
I talked with a lot of vendors. As much as my poor brain could digest in 1 day. Grow Pulse showed a very nice model of a hydroponic cart. It has excellent features for nutrient studies or simply accelerated growth. I spoke with a representative from VRE systems on their affordable cart option. I also looked at label printers from WestHort. That last one is a pie in the sky purchase but wouldn't it be lovely to have a printer available at the county level... wink, wink.
I spoke to a number of plant vendors. Holy Nurseries, The Plant connection, Mulberry Miniatures, Meehan's Miniatures, Maryland Aquatic Nurseries, and Sandy's Plants, INC. all stood out to me particularly for their plants that would work well in our unusual container gardens or were drool worthy. The plants were so far superior than what we used the last 2 years from big box stores. My favorite plant vendor however were the guys at Gold Hill. They were the nicest, most encouraging gentleman and they sent me home with a flat of trees that I can share out with my students tomorrow as we are in the middle of our landscaping unit. Seeing something in person like this is so much more useful than online or on paper.
Lastly, I need to talk about the inspiration I walked away with. I feel like I now know what some of my options are in terms of purchasing plant matter and got a lot of cool ideas to implement in the future! Maple Ridge Supply was such a happy display with a wonderful man sharing about their story and showed me containers that would improve our holiday displays. The men from Enliven Planters show such innovation and mastery of their craft that I would love to see them do a youtube video of how they started their business. (I will be following and if they ever want to come teach a clinic, they are welcome!) Sporticulture is going to look into what it would take to adapt what they do for a high school program and Gloeckner shared about their sponsorship of Seed your Future and middle school plant programs.
One final thank you to those at MANTS who viewed my question and took the time to respond in such an encouraging way. I would have missed so much without your support. Thank you to the vendors who took the time today. I did have one discouraging moment where it didn't appear a happy looking young lady was going to get the time of day from a nearby nursery who had a lot of man friends to talk to but I suppose it depends greatly on who you send to the show to promote your business. I look forwarding to seeing you all again next year!