MANTS 2018

Members of OvS’ design team recently attended the annual Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in Baltimore, MD.

MANTS welcomes thousands of horticultural industry leaders, buyers, and landscaping professionals come together at the Baltimore Convention Center, where over 1,000 exhibitors show off perennials, shrubs, tress, products, and innovative technological solutions for the garden and landscape.

The event is a favorite at OvS, and often serves as a reunion of sorts, bringing together former collaborators, vendors, colleagues, and friends. Moreso, MANTS is also a great resource to find new and interesting plant species – many of which become OvS standards.

Carson Hale, one of OvS’ designers, attended MANTS for the first time and had a wonderful and was thoroughly captivated by her first experience. A plant that caught her eye was Illicium floidanum or ‘Woodland Ruby.” Carson characterized the plant to have “A very rounded form and shiny pointed leaves that looked more like a Leucothoe than the Illicium parviflourm I am used to. The plant seems to bloom a striking magenta-red.”